Healthy Baked Veggie Farro

A lot of people ask me to share my recipes... but frankly I'm pretty terrible at recipes. I really like to try different flavors and textures, and make things up as I go along. This is probably why I think of myself as a cook more than a baker! I love the fresh and savory, and this is a great mix of both. The main ingredient is Italian Farro, which is a wheat grain relative, so I apologize to my gluten-free friends -- this one is not for you. However, if you can tolerate wheat grain, you can try this dish a multitude of ways. If you are vegetarian, you can use vegetable stock instead of chicken stock. If you are dairy-free, skip the feta or goat cheese. If you are allergic to nuts, skip the walnuts. But if you are lucky like me and do not have any known food allergies, this is just delicious.

To give you a little background on farro, it is a complex carbohydrate packed with protein. I had never even heard of farro until a few years ago when a friend of mine told me about it and shared a recipe very similar to this one, which I have since lost, but this has to be close to what it was! I remembered the key vegetables were Brussels sprouts, sweet potato, and red onion, but I know I have also tried it with other similarly-colored veggies like broccoli and butternut squash. I've also tried both goat cheese and feta cheese and I cannot decide which I like more! Goat cheese is far creamier, but feta holds up longer if you were to leave it out for a party or store some leftovers in the fridge.

Also, the recipe I was told originally called for thyme, which I love to use fresh from the garden or supermarket, but dry works too. In this case, for the #doterracookingchallenge I decided to use the Thyme Essential Oil to carry the flavor even further!

So, without further ado, this is the best guess at a recipe I can write out for you all...

Healthy Baked Veggie Farro with walnuts, goat cheese, & doTERRA™ Thyme Essential Oil

Italian Farro (1 1/2 cups)
Low Sodium Chicken Stock (2 1/4 cups)
1 cup chopped walnuts
doTerra Thyme essential oil (3 drops)
Con' Olio Roasted Pumpkinseed oil (1/2 TB)
crumbled feta or goat cheese (1 1/2 cups)

Vegetable Mix
1 large sweet potato, diced into dime sized pieces (2 cups)
1 bag brussel sprouts, washed and halved (2 cups)
1/2 red onion, cut into dime sized pieces (3/4 cup)
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/2 TB fresh cracked black pepper
1/2 TB garlic salt
1/4 TB crushed red pepper (optional)
1/2 TB thyme (dry or fresh)

Preheat oven to 370 F. Toss vegetable mix ingredients together in a large mixing bowl to thoroughly coat vegetables with seasoning. Line a large baking sheet with aluminum foil and pour out all the veggies in a single layer. Sprinkle the chopped walnuts on top throughout the sheet. Place the sheet in the oven.

Put the farro and chicken stock into a 4 QT pot and put over high heat until a rapid boil gets going. Then cover and turn down to medium-low heat and set your timer for 10 minutes.

After 10 minutes of YOU time, turn off that timer and check on the farro, stirring it with a spoon. If the bottom of the pot is dry, it's done. If there is still a tiny bit of water left, leave it on the heat while you remove the veggies from the oven - they should have a touch of brown on the edges. When most of the water is cooked off the bottom of the farro pan, kill the heat for both the oven and the stove. Carefully pour the veggies into the pot and drop in the 1/2 TB of Roasted Pumpkinseed oil as well as the 3 drops of Thyme essential oil. Stir thoroughly to mix. Add the crumbled feta or goat cheese and toss together with the veggies and farro. Serve in a bowl; yields 5-6 servings.

Hope you enjoy!!!

~Laura