Cooking At Home: Toubouleh with Farro


Like I said, I'm really into farro right now and just to prove it to you I've made yet another dish at home that consists of farro, or to put it more precisely, farro was added to it. The back story to this dish is... for those of you who don't know I've recently had a baby, he is now 5 months old and I have decided to stop breastfeeding which has proven to be a lot harder than I imagined. There are many foods one can eat in order to increase breastmilk and there is also many foods one can eat to decrease breastmilk, parsley and mint just happens to be two herbs that decrease breastmilk, so I figure I'd make a boat load of toubouleh and... eat it all. The dish is refreshing to the palate and simple to make, a perfect side for kabobs or grilled fish.

INGREDIENTS (serves 4-6):
2 lemons (about 2 tablespoons)
1 cup of farro (I used Trader Joe's 10 minute quick cooking farro)
1 bunch of parsley finely chopped
1 bunch of mint finely chopped
3 scallions chopped
1.5 -2 teaspoons of salt
pepper to taste
olive oil
1 cucumber seeded, quartered and then sliced (I used half a hot house cucumber)


RECIPE:
Make 1 cup of farro as directed on the package. I used Trader Joe's 10 Minute Quick Cooking Farro. Once the farro is cooked, drain then toss with the lemon juice, 1 teaspoon of salt, as much or as little pepper as you'd like and the olive oil.

Add the parsley, mint, scallions and cucumbers and toss to together. Add more olive oil, salt and pepper if needed.

Allowing the dish to sit for a few hours in the refrigerator will allow the flavors to marry, it does make quite a difference.


Cutest Dishtowels EVER at Anthropologie


Found the cutest dishtowels in Anthropologie's home section. So cute you may find it hard to dirty them! Speaking of the perfect gift for the ultimate foodie!






Product Review: Trader Joe's 10 Minute Farro


As of late the Italian grain farro has been my new favorite thing, there's  just something about that chewy texture and nutty flavor that I can't get enough of. And of course  what do you know good 'ol Trader Joe just happens to stock it! And not just any farro but quick cooking 10 Minute farro, of course I haven't a clue how long it actually takes to cook the grain but I know as a new parent that quick anything is awesome in my book, except drive-thrus that is. 

The bag of farro holds roughly 2 cups of farro, that serves roughly 4 people quite well in my home- I think the small portion packaging is great as it means you can buy a couple of bags and just open one when you need it and leave the other for next time when you want it, meaning you get fresh farro everytime, plus the bags are uber cute.

The back of the packaging gives you directions on how to cook the farro three different ways, simmering, boiling and in a soup, and yes, they all roughly take about 10 minutes! I just recently tried preparing my farro by simmering via their directions, it turned out fantastic, although I have to say it has to be really hard to F-up farro.

Curious? And want to try it? My suggestion is go for it, chances are you're going to like the simplicity of the 10 Minute Farro. Try preparing the farro and then tossing it in pesto sauce with some sauteed diced veg as I did: Basil Pesto Farro with Zucchini, it's absolutely delish!


Cooking At Home: Basil Pesto Farro with Zucchini


It's ridiculous how little I've been keeping up with Tummy, lets just say and I'm sure all you new parents will understand, that having a baby can keep you quite busy 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. So yes, we've been ordering in a lot and cooking hell of a lot less I am sad to say. But, now my little guy is 4 months old and it's been getting easier to do normal things like cooking, not to say I've been doing it a lot, I just said easier. Last night Mr. Borscht came home just a little bit earlier from work than usual so that I could cook for a change- and a welcome change this is after ordering in for 4 months straight.

I decided to make something relatively simple but delicious and healthy, Basil Pesto Farro with Zucchini and steamed white fish < all of which I've never made before, so although it was pretty simple it was still pretty nerve-racking. I wanted my first home-made dinner to be at least good after all, but I will spare you the suspense and let you know now that it all turned out fantastic, had it not I'm not sure I'd waste my precious time posting about a dinner gone wrong.

Farro is one of my new favorite things right now, a chewy, nutty grain I just can't get enough of at the moment. I was able to find quick cooking farro at Trader Joe's, awesome! So let's begin, the dinner starts with white fish, quick cooking farro, basil pesto, and zuchinni.

INGREDIENTS YOU WILL NEEDS (serves 4ish):
Farro (roughly two cups) or 1 bag of Quick Cooking Farro (from Trader Joe's)

4 cups of vegetable broth to simmer the farro in (or you can use water as well but it will probably be less flavorable)

2 zucchinis  quartered lengthwise then sliced (I used 1 yellow and 1 green, but you can choose to your liking)

2 cups packed fresh basil leaves (and a few smaller leaves for garnish if you'd like)

3 tablespoons of pine nuts

3 cloves of garlic

Olive oil

Salt + Pepper to taste

Pecorino Romano grated

Two filets of white fish


SPECIAL EQUIPMENT:
Steamer
food processor


RECIPE:
1. In a pan heat olive oil on med high heat then add the zucchinis. Lightly salt and pepper the zucchinis and stirring occasionally, cook the zucchinis until they are slightly browned and fully cooked. The zucchinis are done when the texture is soft with a bite. Take the zucchinis off the heat and set aside to cool.

2. Bring a pot with the vegetable broth and farro to a boil, then cover and simmer for 10 minutes. Drain the farro and set aside.

3. Line your bamboo steamer (if you are using one) with parchment paper and steam the fish for 10 minutes or when done (the sharp end of a knife should go through the fish with ease). 

4. While you are steaming your fish, make your pesto by chopping the garlic in the food processor. Add the pine nuts, basil and two pinches of salt- process until finely chopped. Slowly drizzle in the olive oil as the food processor runs until you have reached the consistency that you desire. I like mine a little runny so that it is easier to mix into the farro. Once you've reached the consistency that you like mix in the grated pecorino a little bit at a time until you have reached the taste and consistency you like. I only used 1 tablespoon.

5. Fold in the zucchini into the farro, then add the pesto to farro and zucchini and mix together carefully but thoroughly.

6. When your fish is done steaming, salt and pepper the fish and drizzle with olive oil. I know this seems plain but trust me, when you steam fish the flavor is fantastic and you really not do much to add flavor. Plus the simple taste of the fish with the pesto farro is a great pair.


Oatmeal & Homemade Fig Jam


Sometimes, well lately, it's the little things that make me happy such as Quick Cooking Rolled Oats topped with homemade fig jam. Yum.


Milkmakers Lactation Cookies


In my on-going hunt for the ultimate galactagogue I came across Milkmakers Lactaction Cookies, the secret ingredient: brewers yeast. I bought a trial pack of 10 yummy oatmeal raisin cookies for a hefty price of $20.00 + and have been eating two cookies a day. The second day I was able to see a significant increase in my milk supply. I am now pumping 5-6 ounces a day while before I was pumping 3 ounces a day at most, I think I've found my lactation muse! You can bet I will be purchasing more cookies from Milkmakers!



Yogi Woman's Nursing Support tea


Two months ago Mr. Borscht and I welcomed our first baby, a little boy we call Sasha. As you already know from the previous post regarding Saag Daal and lactation I am on the lookout to find pretty much anything (within reason, of course) that can help with increasing my milk supply.

While at Wholefoods' tea section today I saw this box of Yogi tea, 'Woman's Nursing Support' which is said to promote healthy milk supply. While I'm not too sure what they mean by "healthy", do they mean nutritious or healthy as in healthy supply? I figure it won't hurt to give it a try.

The ingredients in the tea are fennel, fenugreek, Anise, chamomile and lavender flower. The flavor of the tea is wonderful and relaxing but does it actually work? That is the question. The directions say to drink a cup in the morning upon waking and then 2 or 3 more cups throughout the day- that sure is a lot of tea but if this does work I won't mind at all drinking so much of it.

The box contained 16 packets of tea, I will tested the Yogi Woman's Nursing Support tea to see if there was any increase in my milk production by consuming the tea four times a day as suggested on the box, this is what I found.

On the third day I was able to pump 2 ounces more milk than usual and on the fourth day (the last day of tests) I was able to pump 5 ounces milk more than usual (but I also had a bowl of oatmeal for breakfast as well- another breastmilk increasing food). In conclusion my milk supply did not drastically increase by drinking the tea alone but seemed to work best while consuming other breastmilk increasing foods such as oatmeal, dried apricots and Saag Daal. Will I continue to purchase Yogi's Woman's Nursing Support tea again? It's hard to say, for the single purpose of upping my breastmilk? Most likely not, however I do like to have a nightly cup of tea so why shouldn't I choose to drink something beneficial to my baby.


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