Living Whole Food, Plant Based!
Welcome 2020! As one year closes and another begins, possibilities abound. We spend time making (then breaking) resolutions. We want to make changes in our life, but life is funny. Old habits are so hard to change. It is so easy to fall into our …
Does this sound familiar? You are out with the family and everyone is hungry (and getting hangry). No one else has adopted this way of eating and their choices for restaurants proves they are not interested in helping you maintain this Whole Food, Plant Based …
Farro, which is also known as emmer in some parts of the world, is an ancient wheat grain that has been eaten for thousands of years around the world. Farro is commonly found in Middle East, Ethiopian, and Mediterranean dishes. I have no problems finding Farro in grocery stores in the United States, commonly found in the bulk food, health food, or rice sections of the store.
As part of a Whole Food, Plant Based (WFPB) diet, it is recommended that whole grains are consumed rather than highly processed grains, such as white rice and pastas.
This makes Farro a wonderful substitute for Arborio rice, which is commonly used in risotto recipes. Risotto has a wonderful creaminess from the starches that are released during the cooking process and I have found that with Farro, I am able to achieve a similar creaminess (when combined with my secret ingredient).
In my recipe, I use the Instant Pot (pressure cooker), but honestly, you can make this on the stove top as you would normal risotto. The primary difference is that all liquid is added at the beginning with the farro rather than a little at a time with Arborio rice. An added benefit, you don’t need to constantly stir the farro as you do the Arborio rice.
This recipe can be served either as a side dish or as an entrée. Pair it with a nice red wine. This makes for a (clear my throat) sexy meal. Curl up on the couch, turn the lights down, and put on a romantic comedy. You can thank me later (even I am blushing writing this)!
The ingredients are simple and there is very little preparation.
Ingredients
One shallot, chopped (about ½ cup)
Five garlic cloves, minced
3 ½ cups of vegetable broth
12 to 16 ounces of baby portobello mushrooms, cleaned and quartered
6 to 8 ounces of washed baby spinach
1 cup of frozen peas
2 cups of farro (uncooked)
¼ cup of nutritional yeast
1 teaspoon of salt (I use pink sea salt)
2 teaspoons of granulated garlic
I recommend doing all chopping and measuring before the cooking process as it is surprising fast how quickly the steps in the process come. Trust me on this one. I usually chop and measure as I go along. With this recipe, it is best to be prepared.
Steps
Set the Instant Pot to Saute (I apologize for the image quality of the pictures of the Instant Pot…not sure why that happened)
Put the chopped shallots, minced garlic, and ¼ cup of vegetable broth in the basin of the Instant Pot. Stir constantly for about 90 seconds. The garlic and shallots will sweat and start to caramelize while the broth evaporates. If the garlic and shallots are too raw within those 90 seconds, add a splash of vegetable broth. Total cooking time here is no more than 2 ½ minutes.
Add the cleaned and quartered mushrooms, salt, and granulated garlic to the Instant Pot with a ¼ cup of vegetable broth. Stir to incorporate all ingredients together. I like to let the mushrooms cook down for about 3 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Turn off the Instant Pot.
Add the 2 cups of farro and three remaining cups of vegetable broth to the instant pot. Stir all ingredients together.
Put the lid on the Instant Pot. Set the vent to full sealing. Use the manual setting with high pressure for 10 minutes.
Once done, keep the vent on full sealing. After 5 minutes, release the vent (pressure). Unplug the Instant Pot.
Open the lid to the Instant Pot, add the baby spinach, peas, and nutritional yeast. Stir all the ingredients together. The spinach will begin to wilt down and the nutritional yeast will help create the creaminess of risotto.
Put the lid on the Instant Pot and allow 10 minutes for the spinach to wilt and the peas to warm.
Open the lid, stir everything together, and then serve! Add salt and pepper to taste and garnish with a sprig of parsley. If you like it a little spicy, red pepper flakes do the trick!
I could not have been more pleased with the dish after watching both my wife and 11 year-old stepdaughter going back for more! Start to finish, you have a wonderful (and sexy) meal in less than 35 minutes.
I hope you give this recipe a try. Who knows, maybe it will become one of your go-to dishes.
Let me know how you like it if you give it a try. I would love to hear your feedback!
Wishing you the best of health!
Stephen
I was on the Facebook page for the Forks Over Knives community. If you haven’t joined the group, I highly recommend you do so. As you embark on this lifestyle journey, the page is full of motivating stories, moral support, and encouragement from the group …
I owe all my followers a sincere apology. I had every intention to post twice a week. Unfortunately, life has got in the way and work had been grueling! Fortunately, though, I have adhered religiously to my whole food, plant-based lifestyle! Hopefully, to help make …
I was so blessed to have grown up in Vermont. The Green Mountains and Lake Champlain were the perfect setting for outdoor activities. But as summer is relatively short, most of my memories are of fall and winter activities.
What is Vermont if not maple syrup? Almost every year, we would have a field trip to a maker of maple syrup, seeing how they would tap the trees, collect the syrup, and then cook it down to the golden brown, sweet treat we enjoy. To this day, just the thought of maple syrup brings back such fond childhood memories.
But as fond of a memory as maple syrup may be, I am confident there are few fond childhood memories of Brussels sprouts. I know there is an exception or two out there, but most kids (and some adults) reject Brussels sprouts without even trying these tasty gems. I used to be that way, until I stayed at Le Meridian in Dallas, TX for almost two years.
After roughly six months of eating at the hotel, I had exhausted the menu, and nothing looked appetizing. I asked the waiter if there was anything I could get that was not on the menu. He checked with the chef and came back and said they could accommodate me. I told the waiter I had no limits; the chef could cook me whatever he wanted. I don’t remember the meat or starch, but the Brussels sprouts were unforgettable. In fact, for the next eighteen months, I had Brussels sprouts every time I ate there…even when the entrée was Asian or Mexican cuisine.
Today, Brussels sprouts remain as a favorite. This is especially true in the fall and winter as they make a perfect warming, comfort food when the air gets cold.
The chef at Le Meridien would make the Brussels sprouts with bacon drippings, brown sugar, and Balsamic vinegar. But that would not make it in a whole food, plant-based lifestyle. Fortunately, my childhood was the inspiration of the modification that was needed to the recipe!
The ingredients are super simple, and the recipe is incredible easy to make. The ingredients are as follows:
3 to 4 cups of fresh Brussels sprouts, cleaned and halved (do not use frozen)
1 cup of raw pecans
2 tablespoons of pure maple syrup
1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon of granulated garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon of chili powder (adjust to taste)
1/2 teaspoon of sea salt
Zest of 1/2 lemon (save for the end)
Combine all ingredients in a bowl or gallon size plastic bag and mix. I like to use a plastic bag. I find that the bag allows the maple syrup, apple cider vinegar, and dry ingredients to evenly distribute and coat the Brussels sprouts and pecans.
Spread evenly on a cookie sheet (I line my cookie sheet with aluminum foil to make clean up easy) and place in a preheated 375 degrees oven for 25 to 30 minutes. If you have smaller Brussels sprouts, the cooking time will be closer to 25 to 27 minutes, larger Brussels sprouts require a few more minutes. I like to get a nice caramelization on the Brussels sprouts, so I err on the longer cooking times.
Remove from the oven and sprinkle with salt (to taste). Transfer the Brussels sprouts and pecans to a serving dish. Finely grate the lemon zest over the Brussels sprouts and serve. It’s that easy! In 45 minutes, start to finish, you have a wonderful side dish.
A couple pieces of advice. First, if you add too much maple syrup or apple cider vinegar, the Brussels sprouts will become very soggy and mushy. I think it is the soggy and mushy sprouts that we remember as kids that shaped our dislike for Brussels sprouts. Keep to the measurements in the recipe and the sprouts will come out cooked with a nice crunch. Second, I love the crunch combined with the sweetness of the maple syrup, the acid from the apple cider vinegar, the heat from the chili powder, and the saltiness. But too much of a good thing can lead to bad results. Avoid using too much salt or chili powder.
At the end of the day, the Brussels sprouts are a wonderful WFPB compliant side dish. Or on a cold and dreary day like today, they made a perfect lunch by themselves as I curled up under a blanket with the dogs on my lap!
I have a few recipes that I like to go to frequently. One of my favorites in my Fresh Mango Salsa. The beauty of this recipe is how versatile it is. Whether you are vegan or not, this salsa goes as well on tortilla chips …
On your whole food plant-based (WFPB) journey, you are going to experience many traps and pitfalls. Almost all of these will take place when you have a moment of weakness, when convenience trumps all else. If you are like me, the day begins rushed. The …
There are a ton of meal subscription services out there. Hello Fresh, Blue Apron, and Plated are among the many that popped up when I did a quick Google search. But looking at the options, most of the known names didn’t have a true vegan or whole food plant-based (WFPB) option. In fact, I laughed at recommendations to remove ingredients from their recipes in order to make the dish vegan. I’m sorry, potatoes au gratin without butter, milk, and cheese is just potatoes!
I did another search, focusing on vegan or WFPB meal subscription services. Holy moly! Without much effort, I found at least a dozen such services! Some looked really polished and professional, others not so much so.
Thinking some of you out there may be considering subscribing to one or more of these services, I decided that each month I would try a different meal subscription service and give you my honest review. As I write this in January 2019, there should be more than enough subscription services to allow me 12 to 18 months of reviews (hoping these companies survive!).
The first vegan meal subscription service that I tried was Purple Carrot. How did I choose Purple Carrot to start with? It literally was at the top of the list on the Google search. Very scientific, huh?
So as this is my first product or service review, I focused on what matters most to me. Hopefully, it mirrors what you are concerned about. Here goes…
Vegan Options
The options were excellent! In fact, I do not believe they have anything but vegan, plant-based options.
Price
I ordered three meals, two servings per meal. The normal price is $72, but I had a promotional offer that took $20 off my first order. As shipping was free, my total cost for the six servings was $52, or $8.67 per serving (compared to the regular price of $12 per serving).
Quality
My order came with three meals, an Ancient Grain Bowl, Tofu Chorizo Tacos, and Ginger Lemongrass Noodles. The packaging was very nice and easy to understand. If I had a gripe, the carrot and green onion were a day or two past their prime and the avocado was not yet ripe (and still is not three days later). Otherwise, the food was fresh. Every ingredient needed was included, except for salt & pepper, olive oil, vegetable oil, and non-dairy milk.
This brings me to my first observation. These recipes used what I would consider to be a liberal amount of oil. I followed the recipes as provided, but if I were preparing meals on my own, I have cut my use of oil to the bare amount necessary. I try to use vegetable broth in place of oil where I can.
I followed each recipe to a tee without adding or subtracting anything from the ingredients and spices. I am listing the recipes in the order in which I enjoyed the meal.
Quantity
As I opened the box with all the ingredients, my initial impression was there was not a lot of food, especially if each meal represented two servings. Calories range from 740 per serving to 790 per serving, so it was a little deceiving until I realized the amount of oil the recipes called for, resulting in fat per serving ranging from 21g to 42g per serving.
Once making the meals, quantity was not an issue. In fact, each meal was closer to three servings. I was absolutely stuffed after each meal. Never did I walk away hungry. So if you were to do the cost per serving based on three servings per meal, then the cost at full price would be $8 per serving.
Ease of Ordering
Purple Carrot’s website is wonderfully laid out and easy to navigate. Setting up an account, ordering, and pausing the subscription were incredibly easy. The product descriptions, the way the subscription works, and anything you needed to know was right there and accurate.
Ease of Preparation
The recipe book came with beautiful pictures, instructions, and nutritional values. Also has the estimated cooking time. The instructions were very easy to follow and the preparation time was very accurate. Some items were pre-chopped, others I had to chop myself (so I actually felt like I was cooking). I also liked the recipe book as a future reference for vegan meals.
Value
It hurts me to say this as I really love the well thought out concept, from the recipes, the recipe / menu book, the quality of ingredients, and the packaging. On a per serving basis, this is an expensive subscription service. It is extremely convenient. It is high quality. It is fun to prepare. But it is expensive and there is no getting around that.
At the promotional rate and stretching each meal to three servings, I find Purple Carrot to be a reasonable value. Two servings per meal at regular rates, in my opinion, is too expensive. One comment I hear over and over again is that being WFPB is too expensive, which is truly a myth. However, their cost per serving would validate this falsehood.
Shipping
The shipping was free. Big plus in my book. Shipping was prompt. But the box was a bit heavy as there were 12 or more ice packs weighing it down.
Closing Thoughts
For someone new to veganism or a WFPB lifestyle, I think Purple Carrot opens the world of possibility to new tastes, new twists on old recipes, and how flavorful this lifestyle can be. I think quickly, someone with basis cooking skills could pick up the concepts and recipes and be able to prepare similar meals at home for a fraction of the cost.
Based on my initial order and review, on a scale of 1 to 10 (10 being outstanding), I give Purple Carrot a 7.5 out of 10. Price / value, the liberal use of oil, and my experience with the Ginger Lemongrass Noodles were the negatives in an otherwise very positive experience.
If you have any questions about my experience with Purple Carrot, please leave a comment. If there is a subscription service you would like me to review in February, let me know.
I appreciate you checking out my review and blog!
Wishing you the best of health!
Stephen
One comment I hear repeatedly when I talk about living a whole food plant based (WFPB) life is “I could never do that, it would be too hard.” I typically respond with “Why do you think that?” Then I will get a litany of responses …