Isn’t that a pretty side dish! Getting ready for Thanksgiving, thinking of all the standard dishes that accompany the turkey, one staple is the stuffing. And more often than not, the stuffing is made of some bad stuff. Look at a few of the ingredient lists of store-bought stuffing:
Often when it’s homemade, it includes day-old white bread and a few other refined ingredients such as white flour and sugar. Everything we’d like to avoid. So, if you’re not a super-standard-stuffing-fan and can think outside the store-bought box, this is a healthier stuffing recipe that includes some well-nourished ingredients. Ancient whole grain, nutrient dense greens, vitamin-packed chickpeas and carrots. Let’s dig in.
I had these fantastic organic colorful carrots from a local farm and rather than chopping them up and adding them, I decided to leave them full and make for an attractive dish. And you can see as you scoop up a fork-full of this from your plate, it has a nice thickness to it with amazing flavor.
I chose farro as I found similar recipes and wanted this to have that density that regular standard stuffing has.
Farro is an ancient whole grain with more of a hearty and nutty taste. What does ancient grain mean? It means the grains that haven’t been modified from their original form. Modern wheat has been constantly changed through breeding, is not an ancient grain. It’s actually disturbing how much wheat has been transformed.
One thing to note however is that although it resembles brown rice, it is not completely gluten-free, so if you’re gluten-sensitive, celiac or are simply trying to avoid gluten, a replacement such as sorghum is the way to go. Although Farro does have gluten, it is relatively low in gluten and easier to digest than today’s varieties of wheat found everywhere. There is a difference between eating ancient unprocessed wheat grains like farro or barley.
Farro is an excellent source of protein, fiber and nutrients like magnesium and iron, rich in phytonutrients, antioxidants, and lignans. Obviously this makes it a way better option than having store-bought mix with white bread or any other refined flours in the stuffing so often put on the table.
I went with farro for this stuffing recipe as it doesn’t “fluff” the way cooked quinoa does. It was a great substitute for the bread in regular stuffing and it has an amazing ability to adopt the flavor of other foods it’s prepared with, soft and chewy.
So, now that you’re ready with what grain you are going to go with, prepare your farro or sorghum as instructed on container, which may include soaking the grains for a few hours or even overnight before cooking stove-top similar to quinoa. I should mention here that soaking grains helps release important vitamins while reducing or even eliminating phytic acid, which is a natural substance found in plant seeds, grains and beans that have an effect on mineral absorption, notably the absorption of iron, zinc and calcium. Soaking grains, seeds and beans can help reduce the effects of phytic acid and also making them more digestible. Phytic Acid deserves a blog/article entry all to itself because reading that a food type to be something that would prevent mineral absorption seems to me a food that should be avoided, but there’s more to it. Hint… a Well-Balanced Eating Routine is ideal. A Nutritiously Well-Fed Well-Balanced Lifestyle.
Next, prepare the carrots as they will take a bit of time. Preheat oven to 415F
Clean and strip a bit from the skin if you’d like, then drizzle with olive oil, and add herbs such as rosemary, thyme, coriander, oregano, garlic powder and parsley.
Line on parchment paper and roast in oven at 415F for about 35 – 40 minutes.
As carrots are roasting, prepare chickpeas by rinsing, pat dry with paper towel and then mix in bowl a bit of olive oil with herbs of the same above. Line on separate parchment paper and roast for just a few minutes, five – seven minutes at most.
As the carrots and chickpeas are roasting (again, those don’t need to be in long. Take out and set aside until ready to add below) cut onion and garlic then sauté in a bit of extra virgin olive oil with herbs of the same over medium heat until translucent. Just a few minutes.
Next we’re upping the nutrition value of this stuffing by adding beet greens and kale! I wrote about the value of the leafy greens that come with beetroot on a few earlier posts you can check out. But just for a quick reminder, fresh beet greens are very good for you. As well as fresh kale.
Add cut kale and beet greens to onions and garlic mix. Sauté for a few minutes until soft.
Add chickpeas…
And then eventually add cooked farro.
Place whole grain stuffing onto nice serving plate then top with roasted carrots. Take a picture and congratulate yourself on being nutritiously well-fed.
| Prep Time | 10-15 mins |
| Servings |
people
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- 1 cup farro or sorghum or quinoa - cook as instructed
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 medium sweet onion sliced
- 2-3 cloves garlic sliced
- 1 cup fresh kale cut in easy to eat pieces
- 1 cup beet greens cut in easy to eat pieces
- 1/3 seasoning using mixture from below
- 4-5 medium-long carrots you can cut these and add to mix or keep long for a stylish look
- 1/2 - 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1/3 seasoning using mixture from above
- 1 1/2 cups chickpeas soaked in water then pat dry with paper towel or dry towel
- 1-2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tbsp seasoning using mixture from above
Ingredients
Farro and Healthy Greens
Roasted Carrots
Roasted Chickpeas
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- Mix all herbs together. Divide into three to use for the carrots, chickpeas and then to add to the onion & garlic while sauteing.
- Preheat oven to 415F
- Wash and peel carrots. Mix with olive oil and seasoning, then line on parchment paper baking sheet and roast at 415F for about 30-40 minutes.
- You may need or wish to soak in water for an hour or longer. Prepare as instructed, usually bringing water to a boil with grains, 2:1 ratio then reducing heat to medium to allow for grains to soften.
- Using chickpeas packed in water, rinse and pat dry. Mix with olive oil and seasoning then line on parchment paper and roast at 415F for only 5-8 minutes!
- Add sliced garlic, onions and olive oil to pan and heat over medium heat. When a bit softened, add seasoning, mixing thoroughly for a few minutes.
- Add healthy kale and beet greens and allow to soften.
- Add roasted chickpeas and then cooked farro. Stirring everything together.
- When everything is mixed nicely, you can add your carrots as mixed in or you can place thee farro mix on a serving plate and place large carrots over top like in my photo.
- Serve and enjoy!