Farro Minestrone

“What should we have for dinner?”

For many, this is one of life’s toughest questions. With her well stocked freezer and pantry, my mom seemed to always know what we’d be eating, perhaps one day in advance. I never saw her write it down; she would simply get an item from the freezer to defrost each night. Once she returned to work, she left me with daily instructions for getting dinner started before she got home. But she was planning meals that revolved around the standard meat-starch-vegetable meal pattern. Easier than a plant based meal pattern. 

No matter my meal pattern of the moment, I’ve always been a write-it-down person. When friends see my neatly scripted menu plans for the week, they either think I’m a genius or a nutcase! But an hour’s worth of planning time eliminates daiIy 5:00 pm anxiety, keeps the food waste to a minimum, and prevents those desperation “out to eat” days. (Well. Mostly.)

I have shelves packed tightly with cookbooks. Several of my favorites, particularly those of Mollie Katzen and Anna Thomas, include menus. While I might not prep those menus verbatim, they offer insights into how to combine mostly plants into satisfying meals. New winter meal patterns have become my go-tos: legumes and vegetables, soup and salad, stir-fries and curries, pasta and salad. And much like most folks’ classic meal rotations, I find that certain plant based dishes have become keepers, appearing relatively often. 

Today’s Farro Minestrone fits that niche. The recipe includes a sofrito, broth and tomato base, with additional vegetables and cannellini beans. The nutty, chewy whole grain farro replaces the typical pasta. Dried mushrooms and smoked paprika provide umami, along with an optional stealth ingredient, a piece of parmesan cheese rind. The hardened cheese rind becomes soft and melty with slow simmering. Once softened, the rind can be removed or chopped into small pieces and aded back into the soup. If the cheese is omitted, the recipe is vegan. (I pretty obviously wouldn’t do this…) But it’s all about personal preference. 

I once had a much younger, tech savvy friend inform me that I was sitting on a gold mine; that people would buy my menu plans. Sure enough, menu planning services have popped up online-for a fee, of course. I missed the chance to laugh my way to the bank…so in adding a Menus page to my blog, I’m offering up a freebie. The inaugural edition features cool weather menus. There are countless ways in which to eat a plant based diet, but this will give you a peek into how we do it at our house. 

No matter how you figure your menus, slot this soup into one of your evening meals. I think it’s a keeper.