Farro Risotto

Traditionally risotto is an Italian rice dish made with Arborio rice--a short fat rice that is creamy and dreamy. After reading Lisa's post from 100 Days of Real Food here, I wanted to try a whole grain version, but I didn't have quick cooking brown rice and I sure didn't want to stand by the stove stirring for an hour or more. Not to worry. Because I had my own dreamy creamy solution to the whole grain problem. Farro. Remember farro? It's a whole grain in the wheat family. It even has the decency to be Italian. It cooks up quickly (at least my pearled farro does) and is creamy and toothsome in texture.

Risotto is still a hands-on dinner. It requires your presence. You have to stir it--not constantly, but regularly. Sometimes that can be a problem if there are 8 trillion other people requiring your presence while you're trying to cook dinner. However, if you can keep everyone in the kitchen so you can watch your pot, you should be fine. The other great thing about it requiring your eye and a bit of your attention is that you can finally clear out that dishwasher that should have been cleared out that morning. And maybe make up a nice golden batch of slowly sauteed onions (a la French onion soup) to be eaten with your meal or saved to make soup later.

Farro Risotto
adapted from 100 Days of Real Food
serves 2-4 depending on whether it's a side dish or main course
Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 30 minutes
Cost: A little sketchy since my farro was a gift and I'm not sure how much it is, but about $2.10
(onion: .05, farro: .50, grape fuice: .10, stock--I used homemade so free; otherwise, about .30 if you use chicken granules, spinach: .30, chicken: .50, other stuff: .05, Parm cheese: .30)

1 1/2 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp grated onion (this is probably about 1/4 C chopped onion, but I grate mine so as to disguise it from those who don't like its texture)
1 C farro
1/3 C white grape juice (traditionally white wine, but we don't have it on hand. If you're a teetotaler like us and don't have any white grape juice, you can use more chicken stock or water and throw in a tsp sugar)
3 C chicken stock (I used homemade)
2 C spinach
1 C shredded chicken
1/3 C Parmesan

1. Heat olive oil in a pan (medium heat). Add grated or chopped onion and stir until fragrant, but not brown.

2. In the meantime, heat your chicken stock in a saucepan. (Why do you do this? You want it to be warm so that it doesn't cook or significantly slow the cooking process as you make your risotto. Keep the stock on the stove at a low simmer as you prepare your risotto. You don't want it boiling like mad as it will boil too much away while you make your risotto, but you don't want it cool either.)

3. Add farro (to the oil/onion mixture, not to the stock) and stir for a couple minutes to lightly toast the grain. (Why do you do this? It helps the grain hold its texture throughout the cooking process.)

4. Add the white grape juice to the farro and stir until it's absorbed (this won't take long at all).

5. Add a ladle-ful of stock to the risotto and stir. Keep stirring occasionally as the stock absorbs. (Why do I have to stir occasionally? Because this releases some of the starches and gives the risotto the appropriate texture when it's done.) Every time the stock is almost absorbed into the farro, add another ladle-ful, stirring occasionally until it absorbs. This is how you're going to spend the next 20 minutes. Simmer, stir occasionally, add another ladle-ful of warm stock, help your child spell 'continent,' and repeat.

6. In the meantime, chop the spinach and the chicken (we had leftover chicken from a roast chicken; otherwise you can use canned or boil a breast or skip it altogether and go vegetarian).

7. When you're just about to your last ladle or two of stock, add the spinach and the chicken and stir.

8. Add the last of your stock. Stir. Taste. This is important. The farro shouldn't be mush; it should be chewy and toothsome, but it shouldn't be rock-in-the-center either. If it's not done, add another 1/2 C of water and stir, allowing that to absorb. Note: You want a little bit of fluid to remain when you take this off the heat. It will probably absorb before you eat your meal, but if you let all the fluid get lapped up and then take the pan off heat, the bottom might dry out before you (finally) get all the kids to sit down at the table.

9. Add salt and pepper and taste, adjusting your seasonings if necessary.

10. Add Parmesan cheese and give it a stir or 2. Serve nice and warm.

PRINTABLE RECIPE

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Food Essay Friday: Watch Your Checkers, A Conspiracy Theory

You weren't expecting something intellectual for your first Food Essay Friday? Were you? Because I have to tell you that my intellectual state is such that I started this essay on a Thursday that I thought was Friday because, well, that's how my brain rolls. Or, well, sometimes doesn't.

On Thursday Kip and I went on a lovely morning date. One of the advantages of having a husband who works odd hours is that you can use other odd hours to do things. We went ice skating (there were only 4 other people on the rink), which we haven't done since the dating years. Sigh. And then we did errands (duh, we're married people, remember).

We went to Walmart, Target, and Menards (a home store like Lowe's/Home Depot). At Walmart we were overcharged $.30 on some muffin liners. At Target we were almost overcharged $7 on a pot. At Menards we were almost overcharged $10 on a new thermostat. Three for three.

At Walmart, I believe the muffin liners were mis-racked and $.30 wasn't worth torturing our elderly checker.

At Target, there was only one pan left and a big yellow sign that said, "Clearance, Save $7." When it rang through at full price, I thought, "So, have all the other pans run up wrong also?" It seems that they must have.

At Menards, the thermostat was marked at $24.77 on a label that didn't look to be a sale price, and rang up at a mysterious $34.00.

All in all, if we hadn't caught and commented on the 2 biggest mistakes we would have been overcharged by $17.00 ($18.19 with tax).

All in all, we purchased a total of 10 items, and 3 rang up wrong. That's a 30% rate of mis-done sku-age.

All in all, we spent close to $200. The extra $18 would have added 8% to our bill.

Think of the implications. If this happened at every shopping trip (and for all I know it does because I almost always shop with my children who I am inevitably trying to keep from shoplifting all the candy and gadgets that will fit into their chubby hands instead of vigilantly watching my checkers as I was today). If you've budgeted your food for $400/month (a low estimate by most people's standards) and you spend 8% of it in badly skewed goods, that's $32/month you've overspent. Over the course of the year, that's going to come to $384, which is a little hefty for a tightly budgeted family. It could mean the difference between a vacation and no vacation for us.

Are the stores to blame? Well, heck yeah they are. But are they doing it on purpose? (You were wondering where the conspiracy theory part came in, right?) Are they marking things as sale items and then purposefully not changing the sku's. I doubt it (although if you love a good conspiracy theory, you can believe that they are; I won't stop you; they do, after all, position all that candy where little hands are able to reach it--I know I don't do that in my house...). Whatever you believe, I think it's clear that stores don't appear to care about being very careful, especially with their sale sku's. Which is why you have to.

Moral of the story: Watch your checkers, shoplifting wannabe children be darned (though good heavens don't lose track of your children in Walmart, okay). I know it's not the checkers' fault stuff is ringing up wrong. Though the near eye rolls they give you when you call them on something that rang up $10 too high, I could do without.

Three Ways to Healthify (And Justify) Your Hot Chocolate

Generally speaking, I don't need me a cup of cho.

But lately it's been cold here, and at night when I'm tired and wishing to relax, wrapping my hands around a hot mug of something chocolate steamy... Well, it helps me understand people's coffee addictions a little better. It was more than just the satisfaction of a sweet craving. It was kind of soul-satisfying: relaxing, warm, comforting.

What it wasn't was a really healthy choice (because I wasn't about to whip up something with frozen berries and spinach in it). Oh, sure, there could have been worse choices made (I'm looking at you 16 oz Starbucks caramel hot chocolate. Or you, box of truffles left over from Christmas.) My hot cocoa at least contained a bit of calcium and some much-loved vitamin D and let's not forget all those, um, antioxidants from the chocolate. Who am I kidding? This is, like, health food. I think I'll have another.

And yet. And yet, it would make me feel a little better to give my cold weather indulgence a bit more of a golden halo. Because self deception can never be too thorough.

1. Add 1 Tbsp pumpkin puree or sweet potato puree. One tablespoon doesn't sound like a whole lot, but it actually packs a fairly decent nutritional punch. Just 1 Tbsp pumpkin puree accounts for 35% of your daily Vitamin A needs. Whisk it in well and you won't notice it, until perhaps the last gulp. Be warned that the last gulp might be a bit, er, pulpier than normal (depending on your whisking skills and all, so whisk it well).

2. Add 1 tsp coconut oil. I know it seems slightly counter-intuitive to add oil to your chocolate to make it healthier, but the coconut lovers have lots to say about how healthy it is. According to them (and who am I to disagree with science), it increases immune function, fighting viruses and bacteria and lots of other good stuff too. Also, it tastes wicked good.

3. Add 1 tsp kefir. Add it after you've warmed your hot chocolate so you don't cook out the probiotics in the kefir. This is good for your intestinal health and adds a wee bit of protein and calcium). Which you'll be needing of course with your new unhealthy, but thoroughly justified habit.