Farro with Chickpeas, Olives and North African Spices

Lately I've been all about olives. I go through phases with olives but lately, everything from the texture to the saltiness is just pleasing me completely. There's a bakery in New York that I absolutely adore called Eric Kayser that makes the most fabulous olive bread I've ever tasted. Olives get a bad rap sometimes but they're chock full of flavor and a good source of mono-unsaturated fat, vitamin E and antioxidants. And as with anything with such an intense flavor, a little goes a long way. You can learn more about olives here. 

I made this farro salad for brunch last weekend for some folks who eat a mostly vegetarian diet. I served it slightly warm and the flavors melted nicely together. This dish is loaded with fiber, protein, good fats, and vitamins A and C. It's hearty enough to be a main dish but can also work well as an accompaniment. 

Ingredients
• 1 cup canned chickpeas
• 1 cup farro
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
• 1/2 teaspoon ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 1/2 pound butternut squash, cut into one inch cubes and roasted
• 3/4 cup pitted green olives
• 1/2 teaspoon red chili flakes
• Juice of one lemon
• Salt and pepper to taste

Method

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Place squash on parchment paper on a cookie sheet and drizzle with olive oil. Roast in preheated oven for about 20 minutes or until squash has caramelized at the edges and is cooked through.
3. Meanwhile, place farro in a saucepan with 2 cups of water. Bring to a boil and then simmer and cover for about 20-25 minutes or until water is absorbed and farro is cooked.
4. In a small bowl, combine turmeric, ginger, salt, cinnamon, red chili flakes and olive oil. Stir to make a paste and set aside.
5. In another bowl, add chickpeas, olives and lemon juice. Add cooked farro to that bowl once the farro has cooled. Add spice mixture and fold in to combine flavors.
6. Add squash once that has cooled.
7. Top with fresh, chopped cilantro. Add salt, pepper and lemon juice to taste.   

LaLa Lunchbox Eco-Friendly Grocery Bags - Giveaway!

Being a parent automatically qualifies you for membership in the Multi-Tasker's Club of Awesomeness. Ever balance an infant on one hip with spit up running down your shoulder while cooking dinner with the other hand and simultaneously reading a book to your other child? Been there. And while we parents are working all this magic, we're trying to save the earth too - by recycling, reusing, giving to our favorite charities and generally being good citizens. Wow. Thank god it's Friday because even acknowledging all of that made me exhausted. 

Anyhoo, we just got these awesome LaLa Lunchbox eco-friendly grocery bags and want to share them with you. You can teach your little monsters all about saving the world as you whiz through the aisles of the grocery store, purchasing what's on your LaLa Lunchbox grocery list. 
Here's what they look like: 

LaLa Lunchbox Eco-Friendly Grocery Bag!

Want one? Here's the deal:
1. Send an email to info@lalalunchbox.com and let us know your favorite thing about LaLa Lunchbox AND your least favorite thing about LaLa Lunchbox. If you are so inclined, you can also let us know features you wish were part of LaLa Lunchbox.

2. We'll put your email addresses into a random drawing and select five winners!

** Only one entry per person. Enter by Friday, February 1 at 5:00 pm EST. 
** Winners announced Monday, February 4, 2013. 

Good luck! 

Homemade Banana Chips - Incredibly Easy!

I'm becoming obsessed with my oven. Really. 
Everything is popping in there these days. And thanks to this recipe that I found on Pinterest, courtesy of Kia Robertson, I can now include bananas in that category. 

Homemade Banana Chips!

The great thing here is that I can decide whether I want the chips thick or thin and this recipe makes great use of two things I *always* have in my house: bananas and lemons. The bummer is that it takes a long time to make. Total time: almost 4 hours. Ugh. But the overwhelming majority of that time is hands off.  And when it's done, you have these beautiful, flavorful, inexpensive banana chips that are a great on-the-go snack for kids and parents alike. Next time I'm going to add ground cinnamon. 

Enjoy!

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. Slice bananas (I used two), spread onto parchment paper on a cookie sheet and sprinkle with lemon juice. Bake for 2 hours and flip. Bake for another 1.5-2 hours or until crisp. 

Omega 3s and Kids. Where and Why?

In general, my family eats a well balanced diet. Whole grains, lean meats, lots of fruits and vegetables. But because of my severe food allergies, there are certain foods that are never even brought home, like fish and certain tree nuts. All those health benefits of fish? Unfortunately we don't reap them. Here's the bad news: as it turns out, fish and nuts have really high amounts of Omega 3 fatty acids, hailed as nutrition superstars. They are said to help the body reduce inflammation (and therefore help with things like heart disease and arthritis), reduce triglycerides, improve brain function and aid things like fatigue and dry skin. And according to Parenting.com, "Low levels of DHA [an Omega 3 fatty acid] in children have been linked to an increased risk of ADHD, vision problems, and depression." Thanks to my allergies, we all have to be more creative to get our fill so we don't fall into a pit of Omega 3-deprived despair! Ugh.

Here's what I've learned: There are three types of Omega 3 fatty acids: ALA, DHA and EPA. ALA (alpha-linolenic acid) is primarily found in plants like nuts, beans, flaxseeds and leafy greens. DHA and EPA are found mostly in cold water fish like salmon and sardines. DHA can also be found in fortified milk, eggs and other dairy. I found this slide show about the top sources of Omega 3s interesting. 
So okay - back to the action plan. For anyone like me who can't have the so-called "best" sources of Omega 3s, you can buy organic eggs with added Omega 3, other dairy fortified with Omega 3. Frankly, I have no clue how Omega 3 can be added to eggs so I need to do more research.  Another option is to include flax, spinach and green leafy vegetables as a regular part of your diet. My husband and I eat loads of leafy greens but beyond the Weelicious Green Monster smoothies, my kids really don't. I've started adding flaxseed meal to almost everything I make for the family (pancake batter, oatmeal, baked goods, cereal, smoothies, salads) but I just read that the best benefits come if you grind them right before using. Man! I'm using these anyway and keeping fingers crossed that we can get at least some of the benefit.  

I grew up on Flintstone's vitamins. Do I need to give my kids a supplement of some sort for them to get the benefits of Omega 3 fatty acids? Google "Kids Omega 3s" and a whole host of supplements and vitamins turns up in the results. In truth, I'm hoping that if Omega 3 fatty acids are, in fact, as beneficial as they are touted to be, that scientists figure out some non-fish, non-nut based way to unlock their awesomeness that doesn't involve me manually grinding seeds on a daily basis. 

BanaVocado Bread

I really love Twitter. Thanks to a tweet from @RecipeGirl, I came across this recipe and whipped up what we're affectionately calling BanaVocado bread. BTW - cannot wait to check out the recipes in her upcoming cookbook (due out this Spring!) 
The original recipe, provided by the California Avocado Commission, is called Avocanana Bread but I've modified it slightly (recipe below) and added an extra banana and thus, changed the name. I love avocados and never would have thought to include it in this kind of baking so I'm grateful to have come across this one! 

I usually use applesauce or kefir to provide moisture, texture and flavor to my banana breads. And we make loads of banana bread and banana muffins around here, as you can see here and here. We always have avocados in our fruit basket so this was really easy to whip together. The outcome? Moist, flavorful and rich tasting banana bread. We use an extra banana sliced on top in every banana bread nowadays. I've cut the sugar substantially from the original recipe and used soy milk instead of buttermilk because we're dairy free these days. 

Here's the recipe as I've modified it. This is definitely a keeper!

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup old-fashioned oats
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 ripe, Fresh California Avocado, seeded
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 1/2 cup (packed) brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 3 very ripe bananas
• 1/4 cup soy milk

Instructions

1. Grease an 8 x 8  inch pan (bottom and sides).
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
3. Combine dry ingredients: oats, flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Set aside.
4. Scoop the avocado into a large bowl and mash lightly. Add 2 bananas and mash together.
5. Add oil and brown sugar to the avocado. Mix well. 
6. Add eggs, one at a time.
7. Combine dry ingredients with wet ingredients. 
8. Stir in  soy milk and mix well.
9. Pour into prepared pan and add the final banana on top, sliced. 
10. Bake in preheated oven for approximately 50 minutes.