Click here to pin this Harvest Farro Salad recipe!

Originally published in November, 2016.

Have you all tried farro yet? I’ve shared a few recipes using it here (like this Garden Farro Salad with Feta and Italian Tuna and White Bean Farro Salad – you must make both!). Farro is amazing – and for so many reasons. It’s a hearty whole grain with a lot of oompf to it, quite the opposite of quinoa or couscous. It’s got so much texture and a nutty flavor that I love, which is why I enjoy it so much in salads like this.

Here’s the other thing I love about it, it’s got 7 grams of protein and 7 grams of fiber in it. It will fill you up and make you feel good. Salads like this are perfect option for lunches in my opinion. A no brainer.

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If there is one thing I love, and really appreciate having in the fridge ready for me to eat, is a healthy whole grain salad. I got into whole grains about 10 years ago when I started following The South Beach Diet after having my daughter. There are so many whole grains out there, a lot of them in my pantry still waiting for me to try out. Whole grains make a great base for salads, especially in the summer, because they are so filling yet still light at the same time. They are great for grab-and-go lunches, which come in really handy when you are focusing on eating better or trying to lose weight.

Here are some of my favorites!! Hope you are inspired to try something new!

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Click here to Pin this Mediterranean Farro Salad with Arugula and Chickpeas recipe!

If I’m going to eat a salad a day successfully each week, I tend to pick my “salad of the week” and just go with it to keep things on the easy side. This particular Mediterranean Farro Salad with Arugula and Chickpeas was my salad of the week a couple of weeks ago and I’m ready for it to make a comeback this week. It’s so good.

I am in love with farro and it’s versatility. You can add it to soups like this Slow Cooker Chicken and Farro Chili or make an incredible grain salad like this Harvest Farro Salad. Either way it’s always a great addition because it’s such a hearty grain, filled with protein and fiber. It makes you feel good when you eat it.

My advice is to cook up a batch (it takes a bit of time, similar to brown rice) and store it in the fridge ready to go for salads like this one, or if you’re into meal prep, prep your salads (minus the oil and vinegar) in containers and they will be ready to go when you are (I love these containers for salads to help me with meal prep).

Arugula is in season right now, and if it’s warm enough where you are living right now, so are fresh herbs. My littlest son and I recently got our our container herb garden back in business and I am loving being able to step outside and snip a few leaves to add to whatever I’m cooking. One herb I absolutely adore but I don’t think  gets a lot of love is fresh oregano. Add it to anything Greek, or anything that includes roasted peppers and you will be blown away by the flavor. I added some fresh oregano leaves to the top of my Mediterranean Farro Salad and in seconds this salad was elevated with fresh flavor. Fresh herbs tend to do that.

So much fun with this kid. <3

There is a lot more seasonal inspiration where this came from. Look below the recipe to see what’s in season for May and what my #EatSeasonal friends cooked up for this month.

Mediterranean Farro Salad with Arugula and Chickpeas

Yield: 1 salad

Ingredients:

• 2 cups baby arugula
• 1/2 cup cooked farro
• 1 oz crumbled feta (about 1/4 cup)
• 1/3 cup garbanzo beans (chickpeas)
• 2 sweet cherry peppers
• a few splashes of balsamic vinegar
• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• fresh herbs, for garnish (I used fresh oregano leaves from my container garden)

 

Directions:

1. Arrange ingredients into a large bowl or plate and drizzle with balsamic and olive oil. Sprinkle with a little salt and pepper to taste.

Nutritional Information (calculated from My Fitness Pal):  460 calories / 18g fat / 11g fiber / 16g protein

Love whole grain salads like I do? Check out these 12 Healthy Whole Grain Salad Recipes including farro, quinoa, wheat berries and brown rice!

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Click here to pin this Slow Cooker Chicken and Farro Chili recipe.

My obsession with farro continues. I’ve been adding farro to salads for a while now, but the last couple of months I’ve been adding it to soup, and more recently this Slow Cooker Chicken and Farro Chili. Farro is an incredible addition to any soup or chili because of it’s hearty texture. This chili includes chicken but if you wanted to make it vegetarian it would be just as great with extra beans and vegetable broth.

If you are getting hit with the cold weather and snow that I’m seeing everywhere on the news and social media, then you more than likely have soup on the brain right now. There’s nothing better than pulling out your slow cooker to let it do the work all day especially with pantry staples like Bush’s Chili Beans. Our Florida weather isn’t what you would call soup weather right now, but I am a soup girl all year ’round!

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So much goodness in this salad. SO MUCH GOODNESS. I ate it for lunch 4 days in a row last week, that’s how much I loved it. I’ll be honest by the fourth day I was a little over it so I mixed in some romaine and a little ceasar dressing and wow, that might be another recipe/post for another day.

Have you tried farro? It seems to be becoming pretty trendy in recipes I’m noticing…could farro become the new quinoa? I don’t know…quinoa is pretty much all over the place these days. Personally, I really like farro (check out my Garden Farro Salad recipe and this Summer Tabouli with Farro recipe I’ve made before). It has a chewy, nutty texture and is a great grain to serve on it’s own or mixed in with other ingredients into a salad like this Italian Tuna and White Bean Farro Salad.

This farro salad is great to pack in your lunchbox or eat for lunches at home throughout the week like I did. Because farro is such a hearty grain, it holds up well and fills you up with good carbs, protein and fiber. The tuna, beans, celery and feta add even more nutrition and flavor. This is definitely healthy, good-for-you eatin’!

(I think it would be kind of nice to serve for a group along with a variety of salads at a lunchtime gathering too.)

Here is a great blog post on how to cook farro – it explains 3 different methods and a little background on this tasty little grain (I found this post to be really informative!).

Farro might be a challenge to find in your regular grocery store but I do find it there sometimes. I’ve also seen it at Costco, The Fresh Market and my local health food store. You can also order it on Amazon.

Hope everyone is having a great week! In case you missed it, don’t forget to enter my giveaway for The Skinnytaste Cookbook, ends Monday, October 3.

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I have a confession to make. I haven’t been cooking much at all the last couple of weeks. I go in spurts it seems, feeling the urges to cook earlier in the day or on the weekends. But come dinnertime, my meal that is planned barely comes together and when it does it is definitely not measured or documented or looking pretty enough for a picture – so it really won’t be making it’s way here to the blog. I feel like this every summer it seems (though add pregnancy to the mix and whoa), so I’m not too surprised. The difference is most summers I spend more time using my grill at dinnertime and with the rainy, muggy afternoon weather we’ve been getting that just hasn’t been happening as much as I’d like. Instead, ironically, I’ve been using the heck out of my slow cooker instead.

Now, this salad. This Garden Farro Salad was a product of burst of cooking energy I had last week. In fact, I made it again yesterday. I am so hooked on the simplicity and freshness of this farro salad that I can’t stop eating it once I stop. And it is so good for you!! If you’ve never cooked with farro, you must add it to your list of grains to try, it’s become one of my favorites. And as far as za’atar, you must add this spice to your list as well. I just learned of it from my friend Liz, who adds it to her famous Syrian salad that I crave daily, and I ended up ordering a bag of it from Amazon recently – or you could always make your own.

Enjoy!

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I know, I know… the word Summer is in the title. It’s almost funny to type with all the Fall love going on right now. But for me…a recipe like this can be enjoyed all year round. It’s just my kind of food. And I’m still finding some great Tennessee tomatoes at the market I shop at and am going to take full advantage of them until the good ones aren’t around anymore.

Earlier this year my virtual friend Maria Speck (whom I met on Twitter and is one of the nicest most genuine people ever) sent me her book Ancient Grains for Modern Meals. I was really excited about her sending me this book…not only because it was a super nice thing to do, but because I have such a love for whole grains. Not sure when my obsession with whole grains began, but the more of them I try, the more comfortable I am cooking them and the more appreciation I have for their nutrition and goodness. This cookbook pretty much demonstrates those exact same feelings. And like Maria, although I absolutely love and appreciate whole grains, I would never pass up a crusty piece or two of good “white” baguette or Italian bread.

Looking through Maria’s cookbook just makes me hungry. There are so many recipes I have flagged to try: Artichoke-Rosemary Tart with Polenta Crust, Brie Cakes with Sun-Dried Tomatoes, Chewy Almond Butter Bars. All of these recipes really creatively use whole grains in ways that you can include them into every day meals. And the photos…the photos are gorgeous.

What I really love about this book are the tips, shortcuts and advice Maria offers throughout the pages. Her words really help you feel less intimidated about how to cook something you may have never handled before.

So let’s talk about farro. I was first introduced to farro last year when I was in California. Farro salads were on menus in almost every restaurant I ate in, and I was instantly hooked on this new-to-me whole grain. It’s got a nutty, chewy texture that I really enjoy.

I finally got around to cooking my own farro at home. It wasn’t an easy grain to find in my area but I did pick some up at The Fresh Market and then saw it again in bulk-sized bags at Costco alongside quinoa. Farro is great to substitute for any grain in salads like this, or even as a filler in a dish like stuffed peppers.

The recipe for Summer Tabouli with Farro I found in the Ancient Grains for Modern Meals cookbook was exactly the recipe I needed to start my experimentation with cooking farro at home. This recipe is so simple and one you want to make to enjoy for a few days. As Maria suggested, I topped it with feta (the sun-dried tomato variety) and it was a perfect no-fuss meal to have ready for me in the fridge.

Enjoy your weekend!!

Summer Tabouli with Farro

Ingredients:

Farro:

• 2 cups of water
• 1 cup farro
• 2-inch spring rosemary, or 1/2 teaspoon dried (optional)

Tabouli, and to finish:

• 2 cups coarsely chopped tomatoes, (3/4 pound)
• 1 cup loosely packed chopped flat-leaf parsley leaves
• 1/2 cup finely chopped red onion
• 3/4 teaspoon minced hot green chile (optional)
• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
• 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

Directions:

1. To prepare farro, bring the water, farro and rosemary to a boil in a small heavy-bottomed saucepan. Decrease the heat to maintain a simmer, cover, and cook until the farro is tender but still slightly chewy, 20-25 minutes. Remove the rosemary sprig, drain any remaining liquid, and transfer the farro to a large serving bowl to cool.

2. Once the farro has cooled, make the tabouie by adding the tomatoes, parsley, onion and chile to the serving bowl. In a small bowl, whisk together the olive oil, lemon juice, vinegar, salt and pepper. Taste and adjust for seasoning.

3. To finish, pour the dressing over the tabouli and toss to combine. Set aside for 10 minutes for the flavors to mingle, and serve.

To get a head start, make the farro (as in step 1) ahead.

Recipe courtesy of Ancient Grains for Modern Meals Cookbook, Maria Speck

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