side dishes | Apple Crumbles

Farro Salad with Wild Blueberries

Farro = Wheat Berries. Farro is one of the oldest ancient grains originally cultivated in the Middle East. It’s a good source of protein and fiber but has such a broad variety of uses because it absorbs the flavor of what you cook with it. From breakfast to dinner, savory or sweet, it’s a healthy option to satisfy kids and adults. This recipe was based on an original Blueberry Farro Salad recipe courtesy of Tom Rocket of Greenfield, Massachusetts. Serves 4 1/2 cup farro, rinsed and cooked as follows: Add 2 cups water to 1/2 cup farro and boil. Cover [...]

By Joanne|2016-06-12T15:28:52-04:00June 12, 2016|Salads|Comments Off

Hurry Up Summer! Make Vegetable Ceviche

Dean Karnazes: “Some seek the comfort of their therapist’s office, other’s head to the corner pub and dive into a pint, but I chose running as my therapy.” Here in upstate New York, we are still waking up to single digit temperatures. Hard to believe. Even though the snow is piled up in our driveway, the weather man insists we are short from the average range. Enough is enough. I’m going to create the feeling of warmer weather by tapping into a summer recipe. Please don’t judge me since I’m using non-seasonal ingredients but that won’t make this dish any [...]

By Joanne|2014-03-26T15:23:51-04:00March 26, 2014|Health and Nutrition|2 Comments

Summer Sniffle and Microwave Mushroom Queso Fundido

Of all the times to come down with a cold! My parents are home for two weeks visiting, I’m getting into the pre-marathon phase training and it hits. The dreaded summer cold. Sore throat for two days with itchy ears and eyes followed by left face syndrome. If you don’t know what left face syndrome is, it’s when all cold symptoms migrate to one side of the face. This time, it was my left side. The left eye watered, the left nostril tickled, caused sneezing then got plugged. All left side symptoms. Cut me in half and I’d feel fine…on [...]

By Joanne|2013-07-23T14:21:21-04:00July 23, 2013|Quick Meals|3 Comments

FOFF Rice with Mozzarella

…and A LOT of mozzarella at that! An easy, cheesy recipe by Carla Vavala from her book Fusion of Food and Friends. This recipe can be found on page 51. It’s an easy side dish that the cheesy people in your life are just going to love. Note: I thought the rice could use a bit more flavor so I added 2 chopped green onions. 1 cup rice (cook according to package directions). *Brown rice recommended for an extra little nutrition boost. 1 TBS olive oil (the recipe suggests butter but I used basil infused olive oil) 3/4 cup mozzarella [...]

By Joanne|2012-10-03T17:50:38-04:00October 4, 2012|FOFF|1 Comment

FOFF Oven Fries

Page 35 of Carla Vavala’s book “Fusion of Food and Friends”. I'm sure you know about this easy way to make homemade fries? If not, the result is so good and better than Micky D’s (or at least from what I remember…it’s been YEARS since going to the Golden Arches). Serves 4 1 1/4 lb potatoes (I used 4 medium potatoes) 2 TBS red wine vinegar 1 TBS olive oil (I used the Rosemary infused oil - DELISH!) 1/4 tsp salt (Guilty - think I added about 3/4 tsp for salty fries) Cooking Spray (In place of non stick spray, [...]

By Joanne|2012-06-13T19:04:49-04:00June 14, 2012|FOFF|1 Comment

Life After Boston and FOFF Spicy Sweet Potato Fries

The ups and downs after finishing a marathon. The feelings of elation because you crossed the finish line, the regret that you didn’t push harder. Then your mum and dad send you a gorgeous array of red roses and everything feels better. What is it about a rose? My favorite flower. Just perfect. Life after Boston should be time spent allowing your body to recover. In my case, there was little soreness which made it easy to jump right on my bike and begin getting ready for the NYC Bike Ride. The ride is 40 miles around the boroughs of [...]

By Joanne|2012-04-21T09:25:16-04:00April 21, 2012|Food thoughts, Fusion Food & Friends|5 Comments