Wheat berry, onion, and kale salad

I recently came home from the grocery store and had to work harder than I wanted to to make room in the cupboard for the pasta I had just bought.  I concluded that I need to start cooking stuff I've bought but haven't used yet.  This mostly falls into the category of whole grains, which I enjoy, but rarely think of when planning meals.  So my new rule is that at least one meal a week has to be planned based on something in the pantry that needs to be used up, with bonus points if it also uses something in the freezer.

This week the wheat berries I bought last summer at Echo Hill caught my eye.  I did a quick search on epicurious, and found the following wheat berry, onion, and kale salad.
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/wheat-berries-with-charred-onions-and-kale-395479

1 1/2 cups wheat berries
2 med. onions
5 sprigs thyme
1T kosher salt (use less if you use regular salt
olive oil
1 bunch of kale
1-2T lemon juice
Cherry tomatoes - my addition, not in the original recipe
Feta cheese - my addition, not in the original recipe

Put wheat berries, 1/2 of an onion (I cut mine into a few wedges), thyme, and salt into a pot.  Add water to cover the wheat berries by 2 inches.  Boil until tender, yet still firm, about 35 min (but this is really dependent on how fresh your wheat berries are).  When they're done, drain remaining water and discard onions and thyme.  Mix together lemon juice and ~1T oil, and stir into wheat berries.

Cut remaining 1 1/2 onions into 1/2" wide slices, then saute in 1T oil in a skillet on high heat, letting the edges char a little.  Add onions to wheat berries.  Saute kale in the same skillet as you cooked the onions.  The original recipe says to char the kale too, but I just sauteed it because I really dislike burned kale.  Add the kale to the wheat berries and onions, and stir together.

I added halved cherry tomatoes to increase the veggies and give Will and Suzie something to do while the other sauteed kale and onions, respectively (Yup, everyone helped cooked this one!).  I put a little feta on top, which adds some flavor and salt.  And I sauteed some shrimp to put on top to up the protein content (and get the extra points for using something in the freezer!).  I served it with fresh from the oven crusty sourdough bread.  Delicious and healthy dinner which has me inspired to look up more wheat berry recipes and to keep shopping in my pantry.

-Maggie