Tomato and Corn Summer “Farrotto”

I want to take a minute to say how appreciative I am about the overwhelmingly positive response to my last post on lessons I’ve learned from switching careers. I don’t write about myself often, and it makes me really happy that so many people read and appreciated what I had to say—some of you even said you felt inspired! I keep this blog going to share my passion, and I’m so thrilled that it is evident to my readers!

Now onto this delicious recipe for Tomato and Corn Summer “Farrotto”.

“Farrotto” is a new term I learned this week while reading an article about farro. Apparently farro has the same liquid absorbing quality as Arborio rice, which is used to make risotto. It’s only logical that farro can be used to make risotto too. Risotto is one of my favorite guilty pleasures—yummy rice with butter and cheese—what’s not to love? Of course, I found a way to take my favorite guilty pleasure and make it healthy. Although farro is a starch, it’s a whole grain packed with protein and fiber. I also added fresh summer veggies and subbed olive oil for butter. Even with these substitutions, this hearty meatless dish is delicious, wholesome and can definitely serve as a main course. I bet whoever you make it for won’t even know it’s not rice!

Makes 4-6 servings

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons of olive oil

½ medium yellow onion, chopped

Cup of cherry tomatoes, chopped in half

2 large garlic cloves, minced

1 ½ cup of dry farro

½ cup of dry white wine

3 cups of vegetable stock

1 cup of water

Pot of boiling water

2 ears of corn

½ cup of freshly grated Parmesan cheese

¼ cup diced scallions

Directions:

• Heat a large sauce pan over medium heat. Add olive oil and let it heat 1-2 minutes.
• Add the onions to the oil. Cook for 1 minute or until translucent. Next, add the tomatoes and cook for an additional minute. Add the garlic and cook for 2 more minutes.
• After the vegetables have cooked up slightly, add the farro to the vegetable mixture. Stir the farro for 1-2 minutes to coat it with the olive oil in the pan.
• Pour the white wine over the vegetable and farro mixture. The liquid will absorb quickly.
• Once the wine is absorbed, add 1/3 of the stock (about 1 cup) to the pot. The mixture should be at a low boil. Stir every few minutes.
• Once the stock is almost absorbed (after about 5 minutes), add another 1/3 of the stock (about 1 cup). Stir. Once the stock is absorbed, repeat this process with the last 1/3 of stock and again with the cup of water. The farrotto will be done when all of the water (3 cups of stock and 1 cup of water) is absorbed. The total cooking time should be about 20-25 minutes.
• In the meantime, boil a pot of water. Once the water is boiling, place the corn (with the husk removed) in the boiling water. Boil for about 5 minutes.
• Remove the corn from the boiling water and set aside to cool.
• Once the corn is cool enough to hold, use a knife to cut the kernels off the cob.
• Add the corn kernels, parmesan cheese, and scallions to the farrotto mixture. Stir and enjoy!

Nutrition Notes

• Farro is a complex carbohydrate (like whole wheat bread), which leaves you feeling fuller longer.
• With 8g of dietary fiber in 1 cup (cooked), farro boasts 1/3 of your daily value of fiber in one dish!
• A cup of farro has 24% of the recommended daily intake for iron.  That’s a win for vegetarians!

 

 

Recipe ReDux: Honey Nectarine Sorbet

July’s Recipe ReDux challenge asks ReDuxers to “show how you are using fresh July fruits or veggies”. I love the idea of preparing something seasonal, but I thought I would take it one step further and create something that helps beat the summer heat. This Honey Nectarine Sorbet tastes sweet and refreshing and is made with Greek yogurt, so it packs a protein punch. Not to mention that it’s a beautiful coral color without any additives! 

Makes 2 servings (about 2 cups)

Ingredients:

3 nectarines, peeled and sliced

½ teaspoon vanilla

1 tablespoon honey

6-ounce container of low-fat plain Greek yogurt (non-fat freezes into a block, so opt for some fat)

Directions:

1) Combine the nectarines, vanilla, honey and yogurt in a food processer or blender. Blend until there are no noticeable chunks.

2) Put in a Tupperware and freeze for at least 3 hours.

3) When ready to eat, spoon it out of the Tupperware and top with a drizzle of honey (optional).

Nutrition Notes:

• One medium nectarine has only 60 calories. It’s a perfect sweet and indulgent summer snack!
• A nectarine has almost 20% the daily value of Vitamin C
• A container of Greek yogurt contains about 15g of protein and 20% of the daily value of calcium. That means this sorbet is the perfect after-workout snack!

 

 

Inside-Out Summer Vegetable Pizza

Summer is prime tomato season here in the Northeast, and local seasonal tomatoes are easy to come by. It doesn’t get more local than growing tomatoes in your own home garden. These bright summer fruits are actually very easy to grow, and employing your green thumb will save you time and money and deliver the freshest tomatoes right to your kitchen. That being said, what better way to incorporate seasonal tomatoes into summer cooking than to make a pizza?

For those of you who know me, you have probably heard me talk about Friday pizza night at the Rizzo household. My mom has made pizza every Friday night for as long as I can remember. I actually can’t believe I haven’t put a pizza recipe up on my blog yet! I call this pizza an “inside out pizza” because the cheese is on the bottom and it’s topped with delicious roasted tomatoes, zucchini, fresh garlic, herbs and olive oil.

Leaving out the salty jarred sauce and using only the freshest ingredients on this pizza makes it a healthy delicious dish for Meatless Monday or Pizza Friday! My sister was the recipient of this blog creation, and she said it was “the best pizza you’ve ever made”. Try it out for your next summer cook out and see for yourself!

Makes 1 large pizza –about 8 slices

Ingredients:

1 pizza dough, room temperature

** (I usually buy a pre-made dough from the bakery or grocery store—Make your own using this recipe http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/bobby-flay/pizza-dough-recipe.html)

3 tablespoons flour

Cooking spray

1 cup shredded mozzarella (I like to buy an Italian blend of mozzarella, parmesan, and asiago)

3 plum tomatoes, sliced

½ small zucchini, chopped

½ small yellow squash, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

½ teaspoon oregano

½ teaspoon parsley flakes

1-2 tablespoons Olive oil

Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• Coat the pizza dough in flour and begin to gently spread the dough over a flat surface. Do not pull the dough, as this will create holes. Gently push the dough out from the middle until it is the size of the pan.
• Coat a pizza pan or cookie sheet with cooking spray. Place the dough onto the pan, and put it in the oven for 3-5 minutes. The dough will rise slightly during this time.
• Remove the dough from the oven and let it cool in the pan for a few minutes.
• Once the dough is cool enough to touch, evenly spread the cheese over the dough.
• Place sliced tomatoes over the cheese, then layer on the zucchini.
• Sprinkle fresh garlic, oregano, and parsley on top of the vegetables.
• Drizzle olive oil over the vegetables and season with salt and pepper.
• Place the pizza back in the oven for an additional 10 minutes. Cooking times may vary by oven. Check the bottom of the pizza for doneness—it should be golden brown when ready.

Nutrition Notes:

• Have you heard of lycopene? It’s a phytochemical that gives tomatoes their red color and may help lower the risk of prostate and other cancers as well as stroke.
• Tomatoes are a low-calorie snack. One medium sized tomato contains only 20 calories!
• One tomato contains 20% the daily value or Vitamin A and Vitamin C. Cut up 5 tomatoes for an afternoon snack of only 100 calories and all your daily needs of Vitamin A and C!
• One zucchini contains more than ½ the daily value of Vitamin C, making it a great immunity booster.

 

Warm Autumn Quinoa Salad with Brussels Sprout and Squash

As part of my first Dietetic Internship rotation at the Department of Health, I spent one day a week at a Farmers Market. I was able to marvel at all of the beautiful local produce and take home a variety of delicious fruits and vegetables. From the market, I was given Brussels sprouts on the stalk. Picking each Brussels sprout off of the stalk is quite timely and a bit of a pain, but the end product lead to this delectable dish.

I was also given something unfamiliar to me: Delicata squash. After a quick Google search, I discovered that this squash tastes like butternut squash but doesn’t require the hassle of peeling.

I thought that the bitterness of the Brussels sprouts and the sweetness of the squash would go nicely together, and boy was I right! Both of these ingredients are the epitome of fall flavors, and they come together to make a nice warm healthy autumn salad.

 

Ingredients:

1 Delicata Squash

1 sweet potato

1 pound of Brussels sprout (or 1 stalk)

1 cup of quinoa

2 cups of vegetable broth

1/3 cup dried cranberries

¼ cup chopped walnuts

2 tablespoons of olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

 Makes 3-4 servings

 Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Cut squash and sweet potato into small 1-2 inch pieces. There’s no need to peel either of these ingredients—the skin gets soft when cooked. Make sure to scrub the skin thoroughly with water and a vegetable scrubber.
• Place chopped ingredients in a bowl and coat with 1 tablespoon of olive oil and salt and pepper to taste.
• Evenly spread squash and sweet potato on a baking pan and bake in the oven for 30-40 minutes or until tender.
• While squash and sweet potatoes are baking, chop Brussels sprouts into slices as pictured below.

• Cover sliced Brussels sprouts with 1 tablespoon of olive oil and salt and pepper. Add walnuts to Brussels sprout mixture and stir.
• Evenly spread Brussels sprouts onto a baking sheet or casserole dish. After the squash have cooked for about 15 minutes, add Brussels sprouts to oven and cook everything for another 15 minutes.
• While everything is in the oven, begin cooking the quinoa. Combine quinoa and broth in sauce pan and bring to a boil. Once boiling, cover and reduce heat to low. Simmer for about 15 minutes.
• Once squash and sweet potatoes are tender and Brussels sprouts are getting golden brown, take out of the oven. Combine squash, sweet potatoes, Brussels sprouts, and cooked quinoa in one bowl. Add dried cranberries to the final dish and stir.
• Enjoy your seasonal autumnal dish!

Nutrition Notes:

• One cup of Brussels sprouts contain more than 100% the daily value of Vitamin C. As the weather gets cooler, Vitamin C intake becomes even more important.
• Delicata squash contains a high amount of Vitamin A, which is known to be good for vision. Vitamin A is also an anti-oxidant that helps fight against chronic diseases.
• One cup of sweet potatoes contains more Vitamin A than any other vegetable. Sweet potatoes are also low in calories—one small one contains about 60 calories—in expensive, and naturally sweet!
• Quinoa is completely gluten free and the only plant based source of complete protein. This means it is a vegetarian source of protein that is easily absorbed by the body, like animal protein.
• A ¼ cup dry quinoa (yields 1 cup cooked) has 5g of protein, 12% the daily value of fiber, and 10% the daily value of iron.

 

Brussels sprout picture credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/h-bomb/315179491/in/photolist-tRnTa-4rN6vh-5HGt9w-5HgfEf-5HbXqM-dovuCS-dssfqq-dbZ7zU-7hZcDH-bd8XRB-5V3JZ2-8yY4sW-dfezmA-kptBzt-knWzQ2-7qaMXy-7hZcqR-76s6uX-aWs1DK-4nPgYu-8XaLUp-62mLXc-4F42CE-65STM1-41pQ7F-8YKMJE-4eFxnf-7oQxwC-uhMZP-5EabPw-bxhdHD-49yY7X-49D5W5-49D5if-gYzsC2-3PtCx6-5tGDKL