Cathy Wolz
Primavera — which means “spring” in Italian — works any time of year when it comes to the kind of recipe it describes: grains and vegetables. This week’s Health-e-Recipe for Farro Salad Primavera uses an ancient grain, farro, which has been traced to pre-neolithic times in the Middle East. It comes from a certain type of wheat. With the growing popularity of whole grains, ancient grains like farro, spelt and amaranth are easier to find in the grocery store.
Snap peas, asparagus, tomatoes, shallots and mushrooms add a combination of cancer-fighting ingredients to this salad. Each individual plant food we eat — whether it’s a vegetable, fruit, whole grain, bean, nut or seed — contains phytochemicals, even the lemon juice and olive oil in this recipe’s dressing. And the more variety of plant foods you eat, the more phytochemicals reinforce each other in working to protect your health. That one reason why AICR recommends eating a wide variety of plant foods at every meal and for snacks. Another reason is their naturally low calorie content, a help in preventing weight gain that leads to higher cancer risk.
For more excellent plant-based recipes, visit the AICR Test Kitchen. Click here to subscribe to our weekly Health-e-Recipes.
Photo: fotolia © MarcoBagnoli Elflaco
