Greek Farro Salad with Spiced Chickpeas

Happy New Year! 

I hope you all were able to enjoy Christmas and New Years and spent some time with family. We were in VA and PA and were able to spend a lot of time with both family and friends, and it was just what I needed before beginning a full-time clinical rotation (which started yesterday, on NYE..how lame!). As much as I love PT, I just wasn't ready to start this clinical experience and end my time with family and friends. But, as always, time keeps a'movin'. 

I am a little disappointed that I don't get to have the Lancaster (possibly PA Dutch) New Years' Day traditional meal of pork and sauerkraut though. Normally, my grandma makes pork, sauerkraut, and mashed potatoes with gravy, and you really eat it with all of those elements completely mixed together (just as God intended it). It's not mixed in the picture below, but that's the gist of what it usually looks like.

Pork is supposed to help you to move forward into the New Year (because pigs "root" forward for their food) and I think sauerkraut is just representing good luck/wealth/blessings(? Something about the strands of cabbage representing as many dollars or blessings or something). Anyway, it's always been a tradition in our family. 

Any New Years resolutions out there? I don't have any specific ones (I really don't do resolutions), but I do want to work toward flossing more often (haha). If y'all have health goals or resolutions, here is a recipe that can help you get started in the right direction. 

This Greek Farro Salad really took me by surprise; I loved the freshness of it as well as the heartiness. I'm someone who is never quite satisfied after eating a salad, due to having a big appetite, as well as a stomach that craves carbs and comfort foods (what's a girl to do?). 

This salad is perfect though because it's really healthy, and packs a small punch in flavor, along with being filling enough to make even me and my 6'2" husband full and happy for hours (which, let me tell you, is no small task)! 

Farro is a grain that I just started cooking about a year and a half ago since I tried it in a Blue Apron subscription and really liked the nutty taste, but rice-like texture that it provided to each meal. I think it adds an element of comfort food to any salad/grain bowl, and I really love it. 

For this recipe, there's no meat involved, but I had some thawed, so I decided to add chicken into the spiced chickpeas which gave it a weird look, but still tasted amazing and made it even more satisfying (I also doubled the spices going into the spiced chickpeas because of how much chicken there was to coat then). 

Here is the final product, with dressing and (dried, though it calls for fresh) parsley to garnish. And this dressing is the main player in the meal; don't be fooled into thinking you should skip that in favor of a store-bought dressing. I'm sure it would still taste yummy, but this dressing is bomb. Doesn't that just look fresh and gorgeous?! 

Anyway, try it out and let me know what you think! Also share any healthy and yummy recipes you have with me, I'd LOVE to try them! Thanks for reading and don't forget to subscribe if you want email alerts when I post my latest content.


Greek Farro Salad with Spiced Chickpeas

Ready in ~40 minutes
Serves 4 

Ingredients (Dressing)

• ⅓ C tahini
• ⅓ C water
• ¼ C lemon Juice
• 2 cloves minced garlic
• ½ t cumin
• ¼ t cayenne pepper
• ½ t salt

Ingredients (Spiced Chickpeas)

• 15 oz. can chickpeas (garbanzo beans)
• 1 T olive oil
• ½ t paprika
• ¼ t garlic powder
• ⅛ t cayenne pepper
• Salt/pepper to taste

Ingredients (Salad)

• ¼  bunch parsley
• 3 C cooked farro
• 2 tomatoes (roma or other)
• 1 cucumber

Instructions

1. Combine dressing ingredients and blend until smooth. 
2. Rinse and drain chickpeas. Heat olive oil over medium heat, then add chickpeas. Add spices and saute 5-7 minutes or more (until chickpeas become slightly browned and blistered). Then remove from heat.
3. Chop salad ingredients. Add farro, salad ingredients, and spiced chickpeas to a bowl and drizzle dressing over to serve.