It’s October 1st kittens, do you know what that means?  Vegan MoFo!!!  For those in the know, you know how awesome that is.  For those who haven’t had the pleasure of a MoFo, Vegan MoFo is the brainchild of Isa Chandra.  It’s basically a large collaboration among bloggers.   For the entire month of October, blogs from all over the world will be writing about vegan food and the wonderous power of veganism.  Here’s how it works: If you are a blogger, AND you want to rant about how freakin’ awesome it is to be vegan (along with vegan food) every weekday for the entire month of October, then you can join in.  Come on, you know you wanna.

We’re not resorting to peer pressure or anything…but uh, yeah, there’s like a million bloggers takin’ part in MoFo.  So, you’d be like, totally left out and all the cool kids are doin’ it.  I mean, I wouldn’t make fun of you for being the outcast or anything.  But I couldn’t say the same for well, everyone else.  Just do it.  You’ll save me the hassle of hassling you.  And we all know how I feel about that.

So.  You should check out Kittee’s (Cake Maker to the Stars aka cracks me up) post about Vegan MoFo III (2009 Edition).  It’s got info, and it’s got a growing list of the bloggers taking part in MoFo.  Our name is on that list and we feel all gooey about it.  If you want to feel all gooey and get your name on the list, you can email Kittee and she’ll gladly add you.

Okay, on to:

YDV MoFo III (2009 Edition), Entry #1

We’ve got ourselves a trio.  This is my evening meal.  I had my “sunny burgers” along side a roasted acorn squash stuffed with wheat berry salad.  We also have a garden salad on the side.  Good stuff.  I’m just going to post the recipe for the wheat berry salad tonight instead of everything because, well, I’m sleepy.  Sorry!

Wheat Berry Salad

• 1 cup uncooked wheat berries
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
• 1 medium to large apple, cored and diced small
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 1/2 cup chopped figs (small)
• 1/2 cup chopped parsley
• 1/8 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 cup apple juice (I use freshly made)
• 1/8 cup agave (omit this if your apple juice is sweetened)
• 1/4 cup walnut oil (use olive if you don’t have walnut)
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1/2 tsp lemon zest
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• salt to taste

Put wheat berries into a bowl, cover with water and soak overnight.  Drain and place into a medium pot of boiling water.  Reduce the heat and simmer for about 50 minutes.  They’ll be firm, but chewy, when fully cooked.  Drain and set aside to cool.

Meanwhile add all the spices together.  Next add all the liquids and combine with the spices.  Mix the raisins, figs and apples with the wheat berries.  Once fully combined, add in the spiced liquid.  Combine completely.

I prefer to serve my wheat berry salad chilled but room temperature is fine too.  I also like to serve mine in roasted acorn squashes ( I usually just scoop out the squash innards and roast them whole then stuff once out of the oven) because I love the velvety squash paired with the sweetly tart and chewy wheat berries.  But you can do what you want, I’m not here to tell you what to do :)