Wheat Berries with Butternut Squash

OK, shockingly, I followed through on my threat to make this recipe.  It is from an ebook I recently purchased (for the ridiculously low price of $1.99) titled "The Ultimate Vegetarian Slow Cooker Cookbook: 200 Flavorful and Filling Meatless Recipes That Prep Fast and Cook Slow."  See it here.

First I gathered all my ingredients.  Although I am a rare cook, I am a neat and orderly one.

The recipe called for 3 cups of Butternut Squash but my crockpot is larger and I wanted plenty to freeze so I used the whole squash.

Seriously, did you think I just tossed the whole thing in the crockpot?  Have you no faith in me lol?

Added 2 cups of Wheat Berries.  This was my first time to use them.

Added 1 cup apple juice.

Added 3 shallots

1/4 teaspoon ground pepper

I omitted the teaspoon of salt since the broth has plenty of salt in it.  The book has a recipe for making veggie broth in the crockpot  that I will try sometime.

6 cups of veggie broth.  Oops, forgot to take a picture but you can visualize it.  It also called for 1/2 teaspoon of ground ginger but I didn't find any in the cupboard so I experimented and used nutmeg instead (per a suggestion when I googled it).

Mixed it all up . . . 

Cooked on low for about 7 hours (recipe said 6-8).

When squash was tender (7 hours) gently mix in 2 tablespoons of butter and 1/3 cup Parmesan Cheese.

Ready for supper!

The Results:  It tasted good, (not as good as the creamy Butternut Squash I will be making tomorrow) but next time I would only use half the wheat berries and would not mix in the parmesan, sprinkle it on top instead.

Stay tuned for tomorrow's soup!

F