#savory

Sponsored by The FeedFeed & Cascadian Farm

Inspired by the Maghrebian soup, harira, I wanted to create a mouthwateringly fragrant dish that’s filling and comforting: Spiced Farro & Vegetable Soup. The star of this show is the always USDA certified organic Cascadian Farm Powered by Plants Farro, Sweet Potatoes, Black Bean and Spinach mix (all organic ingredients). Their love of delicious, uncomplicated food comes from what Mother Nature has already perfected and the spices in this recipe just emphasizes what’s already there!

This vegan-friendly recipe takes less than 30 minutes to make so it’s the perfect weekday meal. Garnish it with a squeeze of lemon and a few Italian parsley leaves for a colorful and flavorful meal.

Prep time: 10 minutes | Cook/bake time: 30 minutes | Yield: 6 servings

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 yellow onion, chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
• 15-ounce can fire-roasted diced tomatoes
• 6 cups vegetable broth
• 1 bag (24-ounce) Cascadian Farm Frozen Powered By Plants Farro, Sweet Potatoes, Black Bean & Spinach

Garnishes (optional):

• Italian parsley leaves
• Lemon slices

Directions:

In a 4-quart soup pot, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add chopped onions and minced garlic; cook until onions are softened. Add spices and seasonings – salt, cumin, turmeric, paprika, ginger, cinnamon, black pepper – and stir so onions and garlic are coated. Add canned fire-roasted diced tomatoes and vegetable broth. Increase heat to medium-high and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to bring soup to a light simmer. Cook covered for 15 minutes. Add Cascadian Farm Frozen Powered By Plants Farro, Sweet Potatoes, Black Bean & Spinach into the pot and stir, breaking up any chunks of farro and spinach. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 8-10 minutes until sweet potatoes are hot.

Serve and garnish with Italian parsley leaves and lemon slices.

I purchased Cascadian Farm Powered by Plants mix at Lakewinds – a community-owned store that’s dedicated to fresh, local, organic and sustainable foods. Don’t forget to try out other Cascadian Farm Powered by Plants mixes!

• Powered By Plants Farro, Sweet Potatoes, Black Bean & Spinach
• Powered By Plants Farro, Broccoli, Carrots & Chickpea (Imagine adding cheese to this for a kid-friendly meal!)
• Powered By Plants Brown Rice, Corn, Black Beans & Red Bell Pepper (Vegan burrito? Enchiladas, anyone?)

Danzai noodles are a delicious concoction of wheat noodles swimming in a shrimp or pork broth, topped with a salty bolognese-like sauce. It’s a snack dish from Tainan, Taiwan (the birthplace of many popular Taiwanese dishes) and each noodle stall/street stand will have their preferred soup base – you’ll be able to taste the difference based on the broth they use! Because I like making cooking as easy as possible, I took a shortcut and used pre-made stock.

(Oh, did I mention that this dish is meant to be a snack? SNACK.)

For 4 servings (or about 2-3 full servings):

• 1 tbsp. canola or vegetable oil
• 1 ¼ lb. ground pork
• ½ c. chopped fried onions or shallot
• 2 medium cloves garlic, minced
• ¼ c. dark soy sauce
• ¼ c. light soy sauce
• 1 tbsp. granulated sugar
• ½ c. rice wine/mijiu
• ½ tsp. five-spice powder
• 2 c. pork stock
• 4 c. seafood stock
• 1 lb. large shell-on shrimp
• 1 lb. dried wheat noodles (I used Taiwanese skinny noodles)
• 4 c. baby spinach leaves (optional)
• 1 green onion, sliced

In a large non-stick pan, heat canola oil over medium heat. Add ground pork, chopped fried onion, and minced garlic. Sauté until the pork is cooked. Reduce heat to low. Stir in dark soy sauce, light soy sauce, sugar, rice wine, and five-spice. Let it cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes.

In a saucepan over medium-high heat, mix together the pork and seafood stocks to make the soup base. Do not cover. Once the soup starts to simmer, reduce heat to low. Add shrimp. Turn off heat once the shrimp is cooked.

Meanwhile, cook noodles according to package directions. Drain and divide among 4 bowls while it’s still hot.

Optional step: divide spinach leaves among bowls. I’m trying to incorporate more greens into my diet where ever I can.

For each bowl, ladle enough soup so the noodles are just covered. Add a heaping scoop (about 1/3 cup) on top. Garnish with green onion slices.

Pro tips: The amount of “meat sauce” determine how salty you want your noodle soup to be. I add a little more than post people (I love salt) and I’ll also add a dollop of sambal or crunchy Japanese chili sauce (taberu rayu 辣油).

No fancy recipes here these days. We have a kid. In a pandemic. Enough said.

Here’s a sandwich withsome class…but mostly sass.

For 1 sandwich:

• 2 tbsp. softened butter
• 2 oz. smoked gruyere cheese, grated
• ½ oz. Parmesan cheese, grated
  
• 1 tbsp. whole grain Dijon mustard
• 2 tbsp. tomato jam

Spread butter on one side of each slice of bread. In a medium nonstick skillet over low heat, add one slice of bread to the skillet, buttered-side down. Add cheese on top. Spread mustard onto the non-butter side of the other; then spread tomato jam on top. Carefully transfer this slice on top of the cheese, buttered-side up. Press down gently with a spatula.

Once the underside is golden brown, flip to brown the other side. Remove from heat once it is golden brown and the cheese is melted.

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