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March 6, 2011 · 9:02 am

Mr. Lazy Cook Gets a Crockpot

It’s actually a Procter Silex slow cooker. I got it as a freebie from the casino where I play. I used the term crockpot generically. It is a relatively small 1.5 quart model, but since I live alone, that seems a good size for me.

I confess ignorance about these, so I checked out the web. Unfortunately, most recipes appear to be for meat and I don’t eat a lot of meat. It did seem that the slow cooker would be a great place to cook grains, though, so I tried some farro which I had written about previously for my first outing with a slow cooker.

My reading about slow cooking indicated not to worry about evaporation as the pot is sealed. So, I put in 2-1/2 cups of water to one cup of farro.

I then added the following:

One celery stalk cut into coins
One carrot cut into coins
One half a rotisserie chicken breast cut into pieces (from Costco)
Some beef broth and chicken broth (from powders)

I cooked it on low for three hours.

The result? Good news and bad news. I didn’t think ahead and realize that the farro would absorb so much of the water, so my soup came out more like a thick stew.

Not to worry, I simply cooked up some more broth and added some of my ‘stew’ to it. Voila, soup.

The result was very tasty. I would consider it to be a totally successful first attempt. A nice recipe stretcher which I often use with soup is to dip slices of sprouted rye bread in it. Good nutritious addition with protein and fiber included.

The farro swelled up nicely in that period and I ended up with about four cups of the grain alone left over along with the celery, carrots and chicken.

In terms of nutrition, 1/2 cup of farro cooked yields: 100 calories, 1 gram of fat, no cholesterol or sodium, 26 grams of carbohydrates, 3.5 grams of fiber and 4 grams of protein.

The same amount of brown rice yields 107.5 calories, 0.9 grams of fat, no cholesterol but 587 mg of sodium, 22.2 grams of carbohydrate, 1.75 grams of fiber and 2.5 grams of protein.

Except for the large amount of sodium in brown rice, they are similar, but farro yields about double the fiber and protein of brown rice.

Tony

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Filed under calories, healthy eating, lazy cook, portion size

Tagged as calorie counting, farro, healthy eating, lazy cook, slow cooker, weight

August 20, 2010 · 3:35 pm

What is Farro?

Yet another successful trip to Costco. I have always been impressed by the quality as well as the prices at Costco. Lately, however, they have been winning me over further on the basis of their creativity in groceries. The newest example is the 3 lb. package of Farro I bought on my last visit.

Have you ever heard of Farro? If so, you are one up on Mr. Lazy Cook. I hadn’t heard of it, but it was a whole grain and I thought I would try it. Glad I did.

According to Wikipedia, farro is a food product consisting of the grains of certain wheat species in whole form. It is sold dried and prepared by cooking in water until soft, but still crunchy. You can use it in salads as well as soups, pretty much any place you would use brown rice. You can also substitute it for the rice in risotto. Personally, I think of it as amped brown rice. More on that later.

Farro, called the mother of all grains, has an illustrious history, according to About.com. It fed the Mediterranean and Near Eastern populations for thousands of years. It was the standard ration of the Roman Legions that expanded through the Western World.

It would probably still be an extremely local specialty if the farmers of the French Haute Savoie not started supplying it to elegant restaurants that used it in hearty vegetable soups and other dishes. As a result the dish is enjoying renewed interest in Italy as well, especially among trendy health-conscious cooks.

Mr. Lazy Cook fixed up a batch of farro using beef bouillon cubes in the boiling water. It took about as long as brown rice to cook up.

In terms of nutrition, 1/2 cup of Farro cooked yields: 100 calories, 1 gram of fat no cholesterol or sodium, 26 grams of carbohydrates, 3.5 grams of fiber and 4 grams of protein.

The same amount of brown rice yields 107.5 calories, 0.9 grams of fat, no cholesterol but 587 mg of sodium, 22.2 grams of carbohydrate, 1.75 grams of fiber and 2.5 grams of protein.

Except for the large amount of sodium in brown rice, they are similar, but Farro yields about double the fiber and protein of brown rice.