Wheat Berry Salad with Radishes and Cucumbers

Ah, the last of our summery salads. Because a refrigerator needs several of them. And they're pretty easy to make.

It's amazing how straightforward ingredients, simply prepared, bring so much satisfaction with every bite. As we detail in REAL FOOD HAS CURVES, our new seven-step plan to get off processed food, they helped me get off the "conveyor belt" eating mentality: the next bite in before the last one was fully chewed.

Slowing down to savor big flavors is the key. You have to enjoy food more to eat less of it. I found that out through experience; I backed it up with a year of reading nutritional, medical, and neurological journals.

What's more, as we detail in the book, you have to eat more things to eat less overall. Limiting what you eat is not the answer. We go into a long discussion in the book about how deprivation is not the answer for animals like ourselves motivated almost exclusively by pleasure endorphins in our brains. Instead of restricting what we eat, we want you to make this pledge: try one new thing every week.

So if you haven't discovered wheat berries, now's the time! They're the wheat grain intact, a gorgeous bit of bready goodness, lots of fiber and vitamins in every bite. A little crunchy, a little chewy--they're truly one of my favorite things. Especially in a salad like this one.

First, pour 1 1/2 cups wheat berries into a large saucepan. Cover them with water until it stands about two inches over them, then bring the water to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat to low and simmer slowly until the wheat berries are tender, about 40 minutes. Taste one to make sure. Then drain them in a colander set in the sink. (If you lose too much water as it simmers, just add more. This isn't brain science. Or rocket surgery. It's just boiling wheat berries.)

Rinse them with cool water in the colander, then shake the colander to get rid of excess moisture and pour the wheat berries into a serving bowl.

Add 12 diced, small radishes and 1 large seeded and diced cucumber. To see a cucumber, cut it in half lengthwise, then scrape out the seeds in the middle with a flatware spoon. Bruce leaves the skin on because I like the crunch.

Pour the veggies into the bowl with the wheat berries, then add 3 tablespoons sweet vinegar, 3 tablespoons almond oil, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper, and up to 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes, if desired.

About that sweet vinegar. Bruce used sweet moscatel vinegar. And yes, he got it at Stop&Shop, the big grocery store down the road. But you can use anything, even the more traditional balsamic vinegar or white balsamic vinegar. Or you can use rice vinegar and add a pinch of sugar.

And almond oil? It adds a silky texture to the salad, quite lovely. If you want a more pronounced taste, try untoasted walnut oil--although I think it clashes a bit against the radishes. If in doubt, just go with olive oil.

Toss it up and you're ready to go. It can be kept, covered, in the fridge for four or five days, lunch (or even a small snack) ready when you are.