Vegan Marinara Farro with Roasted Broccoli and Chickpeas

New year goals! That’s a thing I’m doing. I always get so invigorated and excited about my goals in the new year. Working towards a better, healthier, stronger me.

That said, I’m already tired and in need of another vacation…and it’s only the 4th day of the year.

All in favor of a second Christmas break say, “aye!”

One of my many goals for 2018 is to try new foods.

At my core, I’m a creature of habit. At the end of a long day when I’m done with work, 99.9% of the time, I make a sautéed veggie bowl with rice and chickpeas.

It’s simple, satisfying, and tasty, but eating the same thing week after week after week has gotten totally old.

Thus the goal: try new foods.

I’m super excited about this particular recipe because it features one of those new-to-me foods & whole grain extraordinaire: farro!

Have you ever had the pleasure of munching on farro before? It’s kinda like rice, but it’s way more…satisfying. I’m not exactly sure why.

Maybe it’s a bit thicker? And chewier? All I know is that it’s just a lot more…yum.

If you’re looking to jazz up your grain game, read on, dear friend. Read on.

For our first dabble in Farro Land, we’re going crazy simple. 3 parts. A handful of ingredients. 30 minutes.

You ready? Let’s do it.

Step 1: Farro! Cooking farro is as easy as cooking any other kind of grain: boil water, dump farro in (+ a pinch of salt if you fancy), wait until water is absorbed and farro is tender. I just love cooking big batches of grains (quinoa, rice, and now farro) to have for quick lunches and dinners throughout the week. My obsession with grain bowls runs deep, and those big batches keep me super satisfied. For this particular recipe, you’ll need only 1 cup of [uncooked] farro!

Aaaafter we cook the farro, we add some marinara/tomato sauce (choose your fave, but I LOVE this one [not sponsored]) and a scoop of something creamy. Hummus works if you want this to be a really simple recipe, but if you’re willing to put in a teeny tiny bit more effort, Vegan Cashew Ricotta is the way to go, bud.

Step 2: Roasted broccoli! We did this earlier this week! As I mentioned in that post, roasted broccoli is one of my favorite foods ever, and it is so delightful on top of a grain bowl like this. Yaas.

Step 3: Toppings! aka. the best part of any grain bowl. You can do whatever you want here. I tried to toast some chopped cashews as a topping, but I burned each and every cashew to an absolute crisp. I hate wasting food, but I’m kind of glad it happened because I got to top these bowls with crispy roasted chickpeas instead! Here’s one of my favorite recipes if you’re interested.

Add some Vegan Parm and lots of fresh basil, and you’re well on your way to Delectable Dinner Town. Population: Y-O-U.

If you’ve never had farro before, consider this a sign from the farro gods.

Not only do these farro grain bowls take like…minutes to make, they are ridiculously tasty and filling. Grain bowl love is true love.