But… it’s not risotto!

I don’t think I can honestly keep saying that I don’t like vegetables. I mean seriously… I’m sitting here, half an hour from dinner, salivating over this:

I can’t wait to eat it. In fact, I’m going to the kitchen right now and shovel a couple forkfulls into my mouth.

Ok, I’m back. I love pasta salad. I never eat it because we don’t keep pasta in the house. It’s simply not diabetic friendly. Emmer, however, is apparently very diabetic friendly. Nothing I’ve made thusfar with Emmer has affected John’s blood sugar.

So today, I decided to make Emmer Salad with Fresh Garden Vegetables.

Ingredients * = local & = organic

1 1/2 cups Emmer
3 1/2 cups water
Olive Oil
Red wine vinegar
Red or sweet onion
3 stalks of celery
3 carrots
5 stalks of asparagus, blanched
1 cucumber
2-4 cloves garlic
1 small red chili pepper
1 red bell pepper
2 tablespoons of capers
Shelled peas
Basil

We did great for this recipe. The only ingredient that wasn’t either local or organic was the red wine vinegar. We can actually get local and organic red wine vinegar, so as soon as we run out of the non-organic stuff, we’ll switch.

Directions

Boil the water in a saucepan. Add the Emmer and reduce heat to medium low and simmer for about 35 minutes. If there is water remaining in the pan, drain the Emmer and cool.
Prepare the vegetables:
- Thinly slice the onions
- Peel and slice the cucumber
- Thinly slice the celery
- Slice the carrots
- Slice the asparagus
- Crush, peel, and chop the garlic
- Mince the red chili pepper
- Thinly slice the red bell pepper
- Shell the peas
- Rip up some basil leaves
Mix the veggies, capers, and emmer thoroughly. Add olive oil, red wine vinegar, and salt and pepper to taste.