This is another beautiful salad that is easy to piece together with the eye candy courtesy of beautiful wheat berries and a bag of gorgeous roasted rainbow carrots. This dish is proof that having a favourite vinaigrette on hand can easily inspire an entirely new salad or dish, like this one. I love these rainbow carrots in the winter (these do not come in my winter CSA box!), as the colours alone are enough to cheer me up.

Feel free to play around with this recipe with added feta cheese or perhaps some peeled parmesan. Of course I use GRAIN Wheat Berries that are grown on my best friend and business partner Janna's dad's farm in Tyner, Saskatchewan. Bob's wheat berries are incredibly high in protein, which make them an amazing source of solid plant based nutrition, with all of the benefit of the whole grain too. If you haven't tried them yet I highly recommend you do! They make an amazing replacement for Californian grown grains (like rice) in grain bowls, and one of the incredible things about grain grown in Canada is that these crops require little to no irrigation when grown in the prairies (this is also true of all Canadian grown legumes too). With all of the drought issues in California and around the world, part of my focus on eating as locally as possible means making choices that - to the best of my knowledge - contribute positively to the world as a whole, in addition to making sense for the healthy of my family, and to our budget. As time goes on, I can't really justify eating grains grown in regions where it doesn't make ecological or environmental sense to do so. Especially when the supplies from our fine prairies are so incredible and so plentiful. Just a little food for thought ;)

Roasted Rainbow Carrots & Wheat Berry Salad:

• 2 cups cooked GRAIN Wheat Berries
• 2 large leeks, washed and sliced
• 2 pounds rainbow carrots, peeled & sliced
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 bunch basil
• 1 shallot, minced
• 1/4 cup white wine vinegar
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 tbsp dijon mustard
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp salt

Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees and lightly oil two flat rimmed baking trays. Toss the prepared veggies in a large bowl with the olive oil and 1/2 tsp salt. Lay the oil-coated veggies flat on the baking trays and roast for 25 minutes or so, stirring a few times. The vegetables should be browning and caramelized. Remove from the oven and let cool a little.

While the veggies are cooking, prepare the dressing by placing the minced shallot, wine vinegar, olive oil, mustard, sugar, and salt together in a jar or bowl. Shake or whisk and set aside. Combine the cooked wheat berries, roasted vegetables, and the dressing together and stir well. Tear in the fresh basil leaves from the bunch just before serving.