I have a new appreciation for people that do manual labor for a living. Donny & I spent between 6-7 hours doing yard work in our backyard this weekend and most of that was spent tearing out this concrete slab we had in the back. The people that we bought the house from bred dogs and they poured concrete back there to put their dog kennel on.
It was about 8 feet deep, 15 feet wide, and 4 inches thick. It didn’t look that big…. until we started tearing it out. We were hoping to be able to break it up into smaller pieces using a loader (picking up each third and dropping it a few times). It did not go a planned so Donny had to rent a jack-hammer.
Once it was broken into pieces we hauled it into the back of the pickup to go dump. It was just me and Donny so it took a while. We ended up hauling four different loads of concrete! It was exhausting. I kept looking at my Fitbit to see where my heart rate was and how many calories it said I burned. Let’s just say it was more than what I would have burned at the gym even doing a really hard workout.
Again, made me really appreciate people who do that sort of work for a living. Also made me appreciate that I am strong from lifting weights, because I would not have been able to pick up some of those pieces of cement if I wasn’t strong in my arms and legs.
We worked pretty much all day Saturday and then I spent pretty much all day Sunday in the kitchen. I did go into town to get groceries with my mom and I did tear out a few plants around the yard that I’ve been wanting to get rid of. Other than that I was in the kitchen! I love spending all day Sunday cooking and creating recipes.
Donny & I have talked about roasting our own tomatoes, but we’ve never actually done it. I wanted to make something with spinach and artichokes in it because that is one of my favorite flavor combinations. In college, my friend Amy & I would go out to eat together and would always get the spinach-artichoke dip. It’s one of my favs.
Well while deciding what to put in the spinach-artichoke creation, I decided I wanted to put sun-dried tomatoes in it. However, I saw the price and ingredients in sun-dried tomatoes and decided to try roasting my own. Don’t get me wrong, they aren’t horrible for you, but homemade is always better, right?!
Oven-roasting tomatoes was so easy. So easy I wondered why I didn’t just do that all the time. Plus, it made my house smell fantastic! Who needs a Scentsy when you can just roast some tomatoes in the oven….
I basically used The Novice Chef’s recipe for Garlic Roasted Cherry Tomatoes, but added some basil and then didn’t actually measure the salt & pepper (I rarely measure S&P when cooking). Other than that I followed the recipe and everything turned out great. I even followed the recipe part stating to “eat immediately over sink with a kitchen fork”. Yep, guilty. Thank you Novice Chef, I fully enjoyed that part.
Other than cooking the farro and roasting the tomatoes, this recipe is fairly quick. I had to do both tasks so it took longer, but if you had them already cooked then this would be easy to whip up after work one day. I used canned artichokes (not marinated), canned northern beans, and the FreshExpress spinach so all you have to do is throw it into a skillet and dinner is served.
I also suggest topping it with parmesan cheese before eating. Delish. Use the real stuff, not the powdery stuff (it is not clean). I used shaved parmesan, but shredded would work wonderfully too!
- 1/2 cup uncooked farro
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup artichoke hearts, halved
- 1/2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 can northern beans (cannellini beans), drained and rinsed
- 5 oz spinach, raw
- 1 bulb garlic, minced
- Salt & pepper to taste
- Cook farro according to package directions.
- Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and saute for 30-60 seconds. Be careful not to burn the garlic.
- Occasionally stir the mixture as you add each ingredient to the pan. Add artichokes and cook for one minute. Add beans and cook 3-4 minutes. Add cooked farro, cook another 2 minutes. Add spinach and cook until wilted, about 1-2 minutes. Add salt and pepper. Finally, add roasted tomatoes and heat for one minute.
- Serve warm and top with shredded parmesan cheese.
- Use Trader Joe's 10 Minute Farro or cook the farro ahead to save time.
- As the beans cook, the mixture becomes thick. If it gets too thick, add water 1 Tbsp at a time and stir to keep the mixture from becoming one large clump.
