I feel like this week is flying by! After teaching Spinning this morning, Anna and I met Jen and Hadley for a little shopping. Both of the girls ended up with winter jackets that were on sale at Macy’s (for next year!) The Polo coats Jen found were marked down from $130 (crazy!!) to $25, and we found a few other things that were too cheap to pass up! I need to do more off season shopping. 🙂

Onto my interesting salad…

This came together the other day when I wasn’t sure what type of grain or carb to put with dinner. I had a few sweet potatoes, a few parsnips but I didn’t want to just bake them. I decided to dig into my bulk bin and find a grain to go with them. I debated between bulgur and a few others before deciding to incorporate spelt berries. Spelt berries are very similar to wheat berries. They have the same chewyness and nuttiness. So I baked the roots and boiled the berries and came up with this salad. 🙂

Root Berry Salad

• 2 parsnips – cleaned and diced into small cubes
• 2 sweet potatoes – cleaned and diced into small cubes
• 3 tbsp. balsamic dressing ( I used Good Seasons that I make with balsamic instead of apple cider vinegar)
• 1 can of cannellini beans (drained and rinsed)
• 1 c. spelt berries (cooked as directed – To cook whole grain spelt (spelt berries), first rinse and then combine 1 part spelt berries to 3 parts water and a few pinches of sea salt. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and let simmer for 50-60 minutes, until tender.

1. Cook spelt berries and set aside.
2. While spelt berries are cooking, roast your parsnips and sweet potatoes (cubes) for about 40-45 min. at 375 (depending how big your pieces are) or until they are soft but not mushy.
3. While those are cooking, drain and rinse your can of beans.
4. When spelt is done, add in your cooked sweet potatoes/parsnips and beans.
5. Drizzle with balsamic dressing (use more if desired) and serve!
6. This can be eaten warm or room temperature!   
7. Feel free to add in other veggies too!   
8. To make a complete meal out of this salad – add cooked chicken or tofu and something green (broccoli or steamed kale would be good!)

Off to work on some Pampered Chef things! Have you ever thought about having a catalog party? Or a real party – too bad I don’t live close to many of you, I would love to come over and host one!!   It’s super simple and you can get lots of free products! My cousin in Chicago just had one and got over $100 in free stuff just for collecting orders!

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