cielo: Saucy Berries!

I needed dinner. I have not been the most proactive cook lately. Vegetables have wilted. Canned goods have become dusty. I don't even want to look at the lemon I bought to juice. Peanut butter will never go out of style. Pasta Bene is on speed dial. Anyway, last week I saw a blogger's recipe that I had to try! Angela posted a recipe for a "back on track wheat berry and bean salad" to help with the post holiday feeling of what the frick did I just eat!? and I'm still hungry.
Speaking of "what the frick?!" What the frick is a wheat berry? I did what any educated person does. I googled which then led me to Wikipedia. This did not give me much more information other than a wheat berry is the entire wheat kernel. Yay for unprocessed! But really… what is a wheat berry? I did further research and came across this food network blog post. I love that this little berry is packed with nutrients especially protein, fiber, and iron. I find this nutrient combo helps give me an extra energy boost.
Angela's recipe is for a cold salad, but with our recent blizzard and my dysfunctional relationship with winter, I had to morph this into something warm. Something warm and saucy. The results were amazing.

Warm and Saucy Berries and Beans
Adapted from: Oh She Glows

Ingredients

1 cup of dry wheat berries; soaked, cooked, & drained
1, 15 oz. can of navy beans; I used Eden Organic navy beans but any white bean would go great in this recipe
1 sweet onion, diced
2 small-medium sized red bell peppers, diced
As many cloves of garlic your heart desires minced real fine; I used 3 cloves
1, 15 oz. can of diced tomatoes
1-2 cucumbers
½ t of dried thyme
½ t of dried oregano
½ t of dried basil
1 T of olive oil
2 T of balsamic vinegar
2 pinches of sugar
Kosher salt and pepper to taste

Directions
Begin preparing the night before. Soak wheat berries in cold water overnight. Drain, rinse, and cover with water in a medium sized pot. Bring to a boil, cover, and simmer on a low-medium heat for 1 hour. Drain.
While berries are simmering, prepare diced veggies. When berries have about 30 minutes left, sauté peppers, onions, and garlic in a pan with olive oil on a low heat until onions are translucent but there is still liquid in pan. Add tomatoes, herbs, balsamic vinegar, sugar, S&P, now let simmer for about 10 minutes before adding beans. Make sure all the liquid does not cook off in order to make it saucy!
If you sauté pan is big enough, add in the wheat berries. Mine is not, so I combined the sauce with the wheat berries in a bowl on the side.
For the finishing touch I added the chopped cucumbers. I found it gave the dish a nice crunchy and cool contrast. I'm sure you could cook the cukes or even substitute it with some zucchini!