Green Bean Salad with Tomatoes and Wheat Berries

I just ate a grilled cheese for breakfast.... and it wasn't a healthy one. Some jerk left Kraft American cheese in our fridge after our BBQ and guess who found it? Yup. The girl with a serious grilled cheese addiction. I mean, my bread did have seeds in it, so there's that, but the last time we had any kind of processed food (other than popcorn and popsicles, I apparently have a serious problem with "pop" foods) in our house really escapes my memory. The worst part? I barely enjoyed it. You see, I'm Canadian (I know, coolness points everywhere) and we Canadians put ketchup on our grilled cheese (we also have universal healthcare. We're a crazy caucasian bunch.) But since we were all out of ketchup (maybe the cheese jerk stole it) I had to suffer my way through my "breakfast" with out it. It was traumatizing. 

On another note, I also had a bite of the amazing wheat berry salad with green beans and tomatoes I made for dinner last night. I am such a fat kid in the morning. I take bites of EVERYTHING. (Rich says I'm a fat kid all day. He "may" be right.) Anyways, it was a really good bite, and as promised, I am going to share the recipe with you. (I'll leave you to your own devices re: grilled cheese, because I believe in you!)

This salad is an awesome side dish with the dry rubbed chicken that I made last night. Actually, it would be a really great side dish with just about anything (even sad, ketchup-less grilled cheese.) It's light, filling, and unlike my breakfast, nutritious! The best part is, you can totally play around with this recipe, too. We had a TON of green beans in our CSA this week but you could try adding some corn, some different herbs.... There are 44 more days of summer, so you could really go crazy. 

Ingredients:
1 pound green beans, cut into thirds
1 pound cherry tomatoes, halved
1 large shallot, minced
1 clive garlic, minced
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Salt and pepper

Basil, lots of it!

Method:
Cook the wheat berries in boiling water for about an hour or until tender. Set aside to cool.

Blanche the beans in salted water until just tender, about three minutes. Drain and rinse with cold water. Stem the cherry tomatoes and cut them in half.

To make the vinaigrette: Combine the minced shallot and garlic in a bowl with the vinegar and salt and pepper. Whisk in the olive oil. Taste and adjust the balance with more vinegar, oil, or salt, as needed. Toss the cherry tomatoes in with the vinaigrette; this can sit for a while. Do not add the green beans until just before serving or they will discolor from the acid in the vinaigrette.I added tons of fresh basil because I'm obsessed with it.