Farro and squash salad.

These are real squash, a variety I grew last summer that turned out too big, too thick and too interesting for my eyes and my stomach.  It took me a long time to get the courage to try cooking them.

This is what I did:
I washed and cut the squash in half, removed and cleaned the seeds; then, drizzled some olive oil, and sprinkled salt, pepper and sage leaves all over  it. 
Baked it for 40 minutes at 375F.

I then skinned and cubed the squash.
While the squash was cooking, I cooked the farro according to the instructions on the package.

Then I assembled the salad.

Ingredients:
1C cubed, cooked and cooled Delicata squash or any other squash.
1 C cooked and cooled Farro.
1 C mint or parsley
1/2 C red onions, chopped
1/2 C chopped and toasted nuts, pine nuts preferred
1/2 C olive oil
1/4 C lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste

Mix, and place in the refrigerator to absorb all the flavors.

Note: Farro is whole  wheat grain. You cook it the way you cook pasta. Look for it in specialty provisions store, or order it via a whole grain provider.

The cook controls health!

No matter how your family likes to eat and will eat outside your home, the cook is the main person to determine what the family gets fed.

The health and general welfare of everyone in your family depends on you, the cook.
How you shop, what you feature, how you prepare the food, how often you serve that meal, all these decisions will impact the health of your entire family, including future members' as well, because the example you set will influence your own children's and grandchildren's methods and ways.

Today, I want to talk about our ingredients, what we feature in our meals.  I've already listed some of these things in my ten rules for food consumption. As the white/eggplant and cheese pizza above indicates, serving more vegetables will improve your family's health right away.

Vegetables are under-appreciated. Most cooks think first of all about the main entree, the meat. Then, they think about the accompaniments.  In Italy, when I was growing up, our first course, the minestra was usually a concoction of vegetables with a starch, pasta or rice or...

I grew up featuring vegetables, until I married. Then, meat became the main melody. My husband's family grew up on a ranch, in Montana. Their meals were prepared for people who expended a great deal of physical energy.  They needed lots of calories and protein.

It turns out that the Mediterranean diet is heart-friendly. You too can adopt it easily with just a few changes:

1. feature vegetables
2. include legumes such as beans, peas, garbanzo, lentils, etc.
3. incorporate whole grains
4. use lean sources of protein as fish, poultry, game

My vegetarian pizza is easy to make and can change with the seasons. Add tomatoes, zucchini, green peppers, mushrooms. Use whole wheat flour and make your own. Search my Pizza in a Jar recipe and you can have pizza any time.