The Whole Foods Experiment

Welcome to Carmel's kitchen, where I will shower you with love!

And hopefully good food as well. That is, with the Whole Foods app on the iPhone. Btw, have I mentioned how awesome this app is? Especially when you're someone like me who's still learning how to cook (I really much prefer baking...). Don't get me wrong--I can follow a recipe. As Julie Childs puts it, "anyone who can read can cook". And amen to that sista'!

But I don't possess the skills to peak into my fridge, gather whatever leftovers I have, and magically turn them into an amazing and healthy meal. Thankfully, Big C told me about this function that searches for recipes based on the ingredients you have on hand. So for tonight's dinner, I looked up "beef" and "escarole", and through the powers of the Whole Foods elves, I came up with Rustic Farro Soup with Sausage and Mushrooms. (Oh, and while making it, I was also having a little fun with Instagram, hehe)

I figured, this recipe would be delicious because, like all things delicious, it started with a mirepoix (pictured in Lord Kelvin):


But then half way through, I realized, I didn't have any Italian sausage thawed, so I had to compensate with a 1/2 lb of bacon instead (pictured in 1977):


But another 3/4's of the way through, I realized I also didn't have any mushrooms... or mushroom broth... or farro for that matter :/. So I had to settle with a beef both mixed with water and Calrose rice (plus red wine and diced tomotoes in juice). Once the Calrose was cooked, I added what I had left of my escarole (pictured in Nashville):


3 minutes later, a little sprinkling of thyme, some grated Parmesan cheese, and... voila! It came out a little thicker and more gumbo-like than I was expecting, but that was probably due to the Calrose :p. Still, I thought it tasted pretty good!