Hearty Vegetable Farro Salad on "Making It Grow"

I recently had the privilege of doing a cooking demo on the Emmy award-winning show 'Making It Grow' to promote Earth Fest 2016, a free event at USC where you'll learn "how your palate affects the planet."  'Making it Grow' is a gardening and food show so naturally I was in heaven.  And the host, Amanda McNulty, was such a genuinely wonderful, caring, amazing woman and host.  It was such an honor just to meet her and I highly recommend watching her! 

Trish and Amanda McNulty, the amazing host of the Emmy award-winning show 'Making It Grow'. 

Erik and I prepped a farro salad which I demoed on the show.  Farro is a variety of whole grain wheat that is used frequently in Italian cooking.  It has a creamy and slightly chewy texture and a nutty flavor.  It’s excellent used in vegetable soups, sprinkled on top of salads or used as a salad base as it’s used in this recipe.  

The slow-roasted, organic, heirloom farro we used for the 'Making It Grow' episode was generously donated by another amazing South Carolina company, Anson Mills.  Anson Mills specializes in growing and distributing organic, heirloom crops.  

Enjoy the below 8 minute clip of me demoing how to prepare this hearty vegetable farro salad from 'Making It Grow'.

Hearty Vegetable Farro Salad

Ingredients

• 3 cups cooked farro
• 1 shallot thinly sliced
• 10 cherry tomatoes cut in halves or quarters
• 1 small container crimini or baby bella mushrooms sliced
• ¼ cup fresh parsley (only the leaves picked from the stems)
• ¼ cup craisins (dried cranberries) (raisins can also be used)
• ½ bunch kale, destemmed and ripped into 1 in x 1 in pieces
• 1 cup vegetable broth (or water) for sautéing 
• 1-2 tablespoons sherry vinegar (balsamic vinegar can also be used instead) 
• Salt 
• Pepper

Directions

1. Cook farro according to package (this may require soaking the farro overnight so plan accordingly). 
2. Add shallot, tomatoes, parsley and craisins to a large mixing bowl.
3. Wilt kale by putting a pan on medium high heat.  Once hot, add 2-3 tablespoons of veggie broth and kale in a pan.  Frequently move and turn kale with tongs for about one minute until kale is bright green and slightly cooked down.  Add to bowl with other ingredients.
4. Saute mushrooms using tablespoons of veggie broth at time until evenly cooked (don't know how to saute without oil?  Click here to learn how easy it is).  Then add to bowl with all other ingredients.
5. Add farro on top of ingredients in the bowl.
6. Pour one tablespoon of sherry vinegar on top and season with salt and pepper. 
7. Toss until ingredients are mixed evenly.  
8. Taste to see if you need to add more vinegar and season with more salt and pepper.

Take Control Now Question

What's your favorite way to prepare farro?  If you've never had it, google "oil free vegan farro recipe" and share one recipe you could cook and possibly enjoy?  Share by clicking 'comment' below.

Earth Fest 2016 -- Free food event at USC and more Trish and Erik updates!

Ever wish someone would make your family a healthy, satisfying and absolutely delicious meal Monday to Thursday night so you don’t have to?  Better yet, they’d also buy your groceries and clean your kitchen.  Then, when it’s time for dinner, all you have to do is reheat it.  And wouldn’t it be amazing if these meals would also help you lose weight without trying? 

Erik's roasted cauliflower soup we served to a family we're personally cooking for.  It's SO good!  

Well, Erik (my husband and number one chef) and I are working on it.  We’ve started cooking for families in the Columbia, SC area so they don’t have to (roasted cauliflower soup above). It’s very rewarding and exciting but also a lot of work while we’re both working full-time jobs which have also been very exciting.  In fact, I just finished my second time cooking on live tv!

Trisha preparing to go live on the Emmy award-winning Making It Grow.

I just had the extreme pleasure of demoing a farro vegetable salad on “Making It Grow” on South Carolina Public Television (SCEtv).  Honestly, it was so exciting.  It’s a gardening and food show so naturally I was in heaven!  Plus, the host, Amanda McNulty is an a-mazing woman.  Even if you’re not in SC but love gardening, you’ll learn lots from the show.  I did!

Trisha and Amanda McNulty, host of Making It Grow on SCEtv

If you're on my email list you'll be the first to get the episode once it’s online, but until then, I wanted to let you in on an awesome, free event Columbia’s Cooking is hosting at USC in Columbia, SC “Earth Fest 2016 — How Your Palate Affects the Planet.”  I’ve created the event with Kirby Beal, an MPH candidate as her Preceptor.  If you’re in the area, please come and meet Erik and I and enjoy some free food and amazing presentations and workshops on how communities can determine the shape of their food system.  

Erik and I will be serving a free lunch featuring Anson Mills and City Roots, SC grown and organic products at Earth Fest 2016.  

You can also meet Casey McCurry at Earth Fest.  She's our Program Coordinator at Columbia's Cooking.  She's a great plant-based cook and the backbone to our organization.  I love her!

Casey McCurry, Columbia's Cooking Program Coordinator, happily serving a veggie lasagna with a cashew basil cheese and vegan cesar salad with our home-made and oil-free croutons.  

I hope you find these updates exciting and if you're in town, please come visit us for lots of free info!

Tonight's 15 minute dinner - gnocchi

Sometimes, I just don’t want to cook and tonight, was one of those nights.  Know the feeling?  I’m home and hungry, but still don’t want to spend time in the kitchen.  Too many other things to do (including relax).  However, I still want to eat healthy.  What’s a girl to do?  

Eat gnocchi.

Yes, the Italian potato pasta that’s filling, scrumptious AND only takes 15 minutes to cook from start to finish.  Bam.

I’m definitely not talking home-made gnocchi here, but at Trader Joe’s, you can buy a package of vegan, oil-free gnocchi for about two dollars!  Many grocery stores carry gnocchi (ranges in price) and it’s worth buying and keeping a few stashed in the house for those nights when ya just don’t feel like cookin.

Gnocchi only takes 2-3 minutes to cook once it’s added to boiling water.  You know it's done when all the gnocchi have floated to the top of the pot.  

While your brining water to a boil, open a jar of pre-made pasta sauce (always stashed in the house) and then, your bare basics are covered.  Just add any of these spices to the sauce — red pepper chili flakes, basil, chives, garlic powder, onion powder or bay leaf; then toss in a few dark leafy greens (arugula, spinach, kale) or any cut veggies lying around, for an extra nutritional kick.  Then, just add the sauce to the gnocchi and bam! you’re done!   

You can add a slice of toast with spread avocado on-top too if you like (tastes just like butter).

Take Control Now

What's your go-to 15 minute dinner?  

How to Cook Spaghetti Squash

I love winter squash… acorn, hubbard, butternut, buttercup (my favorite), golden nugget, sweet dumpling, and the list goes on.  Winter squash are Foundational Filling Foods, they’re excellent for weight-loss, they’re comforting, hearty, beautiful and sweetly delicious (learn more about winter squash here).

But spaghetti squash is in a world of its own.  No other can compete.  Why?  Well it’s name says it all.  Once you cook spaghetti squash and pull at its flesh with a fork, it looks and feels just like spaghetti, but it's a filling vegetable! 

I want you to take advantage of this super simple and delicious winter squash… I want you to make it!  Here’s how to do just that.

How to Cook Spaghetti Squash

Step 1:  Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Step 2:  Using a large chef’s knife, slice the spaghetti squash in half length wise.

Step 3:  Scoop seeds out with spoon and discard.

Step 4:  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicon mat.

Step 5:  Season squash with salt and pepper.

Step 6:  Place both squash halves flesh side up on pan and bake in the oven for 20 minutes.

Step 7:  Remove from oven, flip over so flesh side is down and bake for another 20 minutes.  

Step 8:  Remove from oven and test to ensure it’s thoroughly cooked.  To test, pierce with a paring knife and if there’s little resistance, it’s done!  If not, continue to bake for 10 minutes increments until done.  It should like like this when done…

Step 9:  Turn into pasta!  Take a fork, and pull at the flesh of the squash.  Careful, as it's still hot.  Shreds of squash pasta will form.  Transfer to a bowl and enjoy plain or top with your favorite sauce. 

We topped our spaghetti squash off with doctored up jarred marinara.  We sautéed julienned onion and pepper in veg stock before adding them to the marinara.  Then we ripped up a few kalamata olives and tossed them in the sauce with a bay leaf.  It’s important to eat dark leafy greens every day so we clipped some kale from our garden and sautéed it with garlic, veg stock and lemon.  Here’s how it came out.  It was delicious!

Know there’s numerous ways to bake spaghetti squash, this just happens to be our favorite.

Take Control Now Challenge

Share your favorite way to eat spaghetti squash OR buy a spaghetti squash and cook this week.  It’s yummy plain, or add your favorite vegan marinara or Bolognese sauce.  Share your insights by clicking ‘comment’ below.   

How to Properly Dice an Onion

One of the most important cooking skills is knowing how to properly dice an onion.  Whether you're starting a saute, cutting onions for a salad or for chili, onions add immense flavor and nutrition to all different types of cuisines.  If you want to succeed in the kitchen, knowing how to cut an onion is a must.  Learn how in less than 3 minutes in the below video or scroll down for written instructions.  Then complete our Take Control Now onion challenge and let us know how it goes by commenting below. 

How to Properly Dice an Onion

1.  Cut off the papery end of the onion.  This is the end that grows upward, out of the soil, when growing in the garden.  This is the "northern" tip of the onion.

2.  Cut the onion in half from north to south.

3.  Remove the papery, non-edible skin from both halves.

4. Starting on the western side of the onion, make a cut from the root end toward the equator, being sure not to cut completely through the root or southern end of the onion.  Doing so will keep the onion together while cutting, making it a lot easier to complete your dice cuts. Continue to make parallel, equal distant cuts, cutting south to north.

5.   Make equal distant, horizontal cuts from the equator towards the root, using your thumb and pointer finger to hold and secure the onion on the top of the onion, above your knife.  These cuts are perpendicular to the first cuts made in step 4.

6.  Now make equal distant cuts parallel to the equator.  Move from the equator toward the root or southern end.  Now, equal sized dices of onion should fall onto the cutting board, ready to be used.

** It's much easier to understand if you watch the video above :)

Take Control Now Onion Challenege

Dice every onion you need to prepare this week by using this method.  It takes practice.  Then let us know your thoughts by clicking comment below.  Share insights or questions.  We'll answer :)