Terre Pruitt's Blog

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Posts Tagged ‘orzo’

They Say Variety Is The Spice . . .

Posted by terrepruitt on March 4, 2020

So recently I went out to dinner and I ordered a farro and kale salad. I was craving greens and it sounded interesting. It was delicious. On a quick search to see the nutrient values of farro I saw a lot of information stating you can switch it out for rice or pasta. Why not, right? So I was thinking it is “grainier” than rice and it might make a good substitute. Since it seems more like a seed than pasta I was thinking it might be good to switch out orzo for farro, but . . . sometimes it really depends on what you are looking for. Remember, food is there to provide us with nutrients so even foods deemed as “healthy” could not be what you need at the moment. Again, it all depends on what you are looking for.

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Portion: values per 100g

Energy 375 kcal
Protein 12.5 g
Total lipid (fat) 1.79 g
Carbohydrate, by difference 78.57 g
Fiber, total dietary 3.6 g
Sugars 3.57 g
Calcium, Ca 0 mg
Iron, Fe 3.21 mg
Thiamin 1 mg
Riboflavin 0.304 mg
Niacin 5.357 mg

It contains no sodium, Vitamin C, Vitamin A, or Cholesterol

 

When I had the idea for this post I was more concerned about protein and iron so I was not thinking I would switch out orzo for farro. But . . . things have changed and I might be looking for more fiber and potassium. I think that adding farro to our diet would be a good thing.  But I don’t necessarily have to switch one for the other.  I think variety is good. So we can have farro, rice, orzo, pasta, and end up getting a lot of different nutrients.

Just recently I cooked up some orzo and added some chopped kale. Mmmmmmm, so good. I forgot to get farro when I went to the store, but it is on my list for my next trip.  I am looking forward to adding it to our rotation of side dishes (or in some case making it the main).

Do you cook with rice, farro, pasta, orzo?  What is your favorite?

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Bruschetta Orzo

Posted by terrepruitt on July 29, 2019

Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia in the City of San Jose, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, Gentle Yoga, Group Ex classes, YMCA, Zumba, Nia Technique, SJ City Fit, SJCityFit, City of San Jose Exercise Classes, Cambrian Yoga & Cardio Dance, CYCDSo this is pretty very much like the Five-Vegetable Pasta I made and I posted about in the post titled Bruschetta Pasta. Basically the only difference is the way I cut and cooked the zucchini and the pasta itself. I used that recipe to make this. I didn’t realize when I decided to make it that it was going to be such a hot day. My original plan was to cook all the vegetables in the oven, but I decided while I was waiting for one batch to cook I might as well cook the mushrooms on the stove.

 

 

 

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—1 medium or large eggplant, cubed (very small)
—4 medium sized tomatoes, cubed
—2 zucchinis, cubed (tiny)
—1 lb of mushrooms, chopped (tiny)
—1/2 of a large onion, chopped (tiny)
—olive oil
—two tablespoons of butter
—garlic powder
—garlic salt
—pepper
—sweet basil
—balsamic vinegar

—1 1/4 cup orzo
—2 1/2 cup water
—2 teaspoons Better Than Bouillon

—Parmesan cheese, grated, as desired

Heat the oven to 450°F.

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Put the cubed eggplant on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with garlic salt. Mix it up, then spread the eggplant evenly over the baking sheet. Bake for 15 minutes, then take the pan out of the oven and stir the eggplant adding more garlic salt. Bake for another 15 minutes, then take the pan out of the oven and stir the eggplant adding more garlic salt. Bake for an additional 15 minutes. Stirring or tossing if necessary to ensure even roasting.

Put the cubed zucchini on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with garlic salt. Mix it up, then spread the zucchini evenly over the baking sheet. Bake for 15 minutes, then take the pan out of the oven and stir the zucchini adding more garlic salt. Push the zucchini over to one half of the baking sheet to make room for the tomatoes. Put three of the tomatoes on the other half of the baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with garlic salt. Bake for another 10 minutes, then take the pan out of the oven and stir the zucchini adding more garlic salt. Check on the tomatoes. Toss them gently. Bake for an additional 10 minutes.

Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia in the City of San Jose, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, Gentle Yoga, Group Ex classes, YMCA, Zumba, Nia Technique, SJ City Fit, SJCityFit, City of San Jose Exercise Classes, Cambrian Yoga & Cardio Dance, CYCDWhile the veggies are cooking in the oven you can begin cooking the mushrooms. Heat some olive oil in a pan, then add the onions. Cook the onions until translucent or caramelizing – depends on how you like them, then add the mushrooms and garlic salt. Cook the mushrooms.

When you have about 15 to 20 minutes left of cooking for the veggies heat the butter in a pan. Add the orzo to the melted butter. Toast the orzo – just giving it a little color. Then add the water and bouillon to the pan. Stir until the bouillon is incorporated. Bring to a boil, then turn down to simmer – or even lower. Let all the water evaporate. Stirring every once in a while.

After the orzo and the veggies are all cooked add half of the orzo to a large bowl/dish then half of the eggplant, zucchini, and mushrooms. Sprinkle with salt (if you even need to), pepper, and basil. Then stir. Then add half of the cooked tomatoes and half of the raw tomatoes. On top of the tomatoes add the rest of the orzo and vegetables. Add more salt (if need be), pepper, and basil. Stir gently.

Serve with a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese.

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So, I have discovered that I love orzo. I cook it in broth and it is amazing on its own. I thought it would make this dish amazing too, but I liked this dish better with linguine. My husband is loving this and I like it too, I just think I like the veggies with the other pasta better.

What about you? Linguine or orzo for this?

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Posted in "Recipes", Food | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Avgolemono – My Way

Posted by terrepruitt on April 10, 2019

I am not sure if I have said this before in other posts, but for 38 years of my life I did not really care for Greek Food. I was not a fan of tomatoes and it seemed like there was a lot of tomatoes in the Greek food here. When I went to Greece my mind was changed. There wasn’t tomatoes in everything and I liked the way they cooked their food. Although I still believed I didn’t like Greek Lemon Soup. I am not a fan of the lemon flavor for the most part so I never tried it. When there was opportunities to try it there was always either rice, celery, or carrots in the soup in some combination. I do not like rice in soup and I am not a fan of water-laden carrots. I do not like celery. One day we were at a local restaurant and my husband ordered the Greek Lemon Soup. Even though he “doesn’t share food” he let me have a spoonful – it was delicious. It was simple, just chicken and pasta! Ahhhh . . . . I found some Avgolemono I liked! So I decided to make some. I found a lot of recipes online with celery and carrots and rice in some combination, so I didn’t look past the ingredients.  I wasn’t finding one to use.  I knew I wanted to use pasta.  I had purchased some orzo online with the sole purpose of making Avgolemono, but I hadn’t planned on making it the night I ended up making it. I did not make a special trip to the store for ingredients.  So I made the soup with what I had on hand, which was a limited number of eggs and canned chicken. Just to put it out there, there is NO CELERY, NO CARROTS, and NO RICE in this soup.

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–1 tablespoon olive oil
–1/4 onion
–two cans of chicken (a little over 3 cups)
–garlic salt

–2 tablespoons butter
–3/4 cup orzo  (going forward 1 cup)
–8 cups chicken broth

–7 eggs
–4 lemons / 3/4 cups lemon juice (more if you like it really lemony)

Juice the lemons. Set aside. (Zest one if you want some zest for garnish.)

Chop the onion. Heat the olive oil in a pan. Cook the onion then add the chicken to the pan to heat it up a bit*. Sprinkle some garlic salt on chicken while stirring.

In a large pot, melt the butter, then add the orzo to toast it. Add the chicken broth to the orzo. Bring to a boil. Then let simmer.

While the orzo is cooking in the broth mix the eggs together with a hand mixer. Mix the eggs at least 3 minutes on low allowing a lot of air to get into them making them frothy. After the “at least 3 minutes,” add the lemon juice slowly while mixing the eggs.

Once the orzo is cooked (about 15 minutes – test to verify) add the egg mixture to the broth BUT not all at once. Put a little bit of broth into the eggs while mixing. Keep adding broth a little at a time to slowly bring the eggs up to the temperature of the broth. Once the eggs are tempered add the mixture to the broth. Stir the egg mixture and broth together. Once it is all incorporated add in the chicken. Mix it all together. Then taste. Is it lemony enough for you? If not add more lemon juice. Or add some lemon zest as garish to each bowl – this gives it an extra zing!

*if using raw chicken cook it thoroughly

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I had typed this up to use as my recipe to make the soup. I figured I would need to play with it a lot in order to get it to what I was looking for, but nope. THIS. IS. IT. Oh, except I will use more orzo . . . perhaps a cup maybe more. But I really think that the orzo is all that I will adjust.

Originally I wrote the recipe with salt and pepper as ingredients, but I did not add any additional salt besides the garlic salt. And my husband added pepper to his bowl, but said it did not really add anything to the soup so he would not be using it, so I didn’t even try.

I am going to check in with my uncle who, I am told, makes Avgolemono all the time. I want to know what he does. Although, my husband and I really loved this and so for the most part I will probably just stick to this.  But sometimes it is nice to try things a little differently so that is ALWAYS an option.

How about you?  Do you like Avgolemono?  Have you found a place that serves one you like?  Do you make it?  How do you make it?

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