Roasted Fennel with Tomatoes and Chickpeas (and a bonus "recipe")

I saw this recipe on Aarti Sequeira's blog, and immediately bookmarked it for Lent.  I loved the combination of ingredients, and it looked a cinch to prepare.  

I was right.  Just a few swishes with my big knife, 8 ingredients,and 45 minutes...I had a pot of healthy, roasted vegetables, perfect for a cold, rainy night, especially since the weather thwarted my attempt to walk 2x around the lake. :-)  Ah well.  Still, I really loved this dish.  And...it's healthy too!

And...a bonus for you...here's what I made for David's lunch yesterday.  Remember when I told ya'll I was trying to make sure he had lunch to take to work every day?  I haven't been 100% successful, but I'm doing fairly well.  I went to the store, and bought a pound of 21-25 shrimp, and made David a nice salad.  I put the poached shrimp on a bed of freshly harvested lettuce from the garden, added in some lemon, tomato, and a container of cocktail sauce.  That's how he eats shrimp...he'll dip 'em all up first, and then eat the rest of the meal like a salad. ;-)

Anyways...here's the recipe I promised you first.  If you're not sure about the strong, licorice-like taste of raw fennel...have no fear.  A aggressive roasting in the oven mellows this root vegetable into sublime submissiveness...and you'll just be amazed, I promise!

Roasted Fennel with Tomatoes and Chickpeas 

adapted from aartipaarit

1/3 cup olive oil

2 large or 3 medium fennel bulbs, washed well (save the fronds!)

5 large roma tomatoes (or 2 pints grape/cherry tomatoes, left whole)

salt and black pepper to taste

Pinch of red pepper flakes

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1 can (15 ounces) chickpeas, drained and rinsed

1 lemon

Crusty, toasted bread (optional)

Preheat the oven to 425. 

Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a large, oven-proof skillet.  I used my big, trusty, Dutch oven, since I didn't have anything else...it worked great.  *You cannot use a non-stick skillet for this recipe, because the coating isn't safe to go into the oven.  A well-seasoned, cast iron skillet is fine, but keep in mind the tomatoes will draw some iron into the dish...not the worst thing in the world, but it may alter the taste of your finished dish.  I decided to play it safe.

Trim the tops of the fennel, but keep the root end intact.  Cut each bulb into quarters (mine were pretty big, so I cut them into sixths).  Chop up a handful of the fennel fronds and set aside. 

When the oil is hot, lay in the fennel, and let them sit for about 15 minutes, or until lightly browned on both sides.  

Cut the roma tomatoes into quarters, and add to the pot.  Gently stir once or twice.  Season with salt and pepper, and then place the pot into the oven for 30 minutes.   

Now is a good time to grill/toast up some crusty bread, brushed with a bit of olive oil.  

After 30 minutes, throw in the chickpeas, red pepper flakes, and cumin.  Stir very gently one more time, taking care not to break up the tomatoes too much.  

Put back in the oven for 5 more minutes (honestly, I just finished it on the stove :-). 

Zest the lemon, and squeeze the juice out.  When the pot comes back out of the oven, add in the juice and zest, the reserved fennel fronds, and a bit more salt if you'd like.  

Once again, I forgot to take a picture of the finished dish...baby tugging on my leg...you know how that goes...thanks for understanding. ;-)

Serve immediately in bowls to take advantage of the delicious tomato juices.  I highly recommend some grilled bread to sop up those juices, they're SO GOOD.  

Ah...this was delicious...I know it doesn't look impressive, but simple homey food tastes the best, don't you agree?  

So there's not one, but 2 ideas for you for a meatless Friday.  God bless your table tonight!

Lenten Recipes

I have a whole list of brand new recipes to try out and post for Lent this year!  4 involved seafood (of course),  1 is a pasta,  and there are 2 new soups.  Yum!

Hope you don't mind being guinea pigs along with us, although I will say we've had about 1/2 of these dishes in some similar form...but I've never posted them here. 

I realize however, that Ash Wenesday is coming up FAST...so here are all the Lenten dishes I posted last year to get you started (plus a few more meatless dishes thrown in for good measure)  I plan to post my new recipes by Wednesday or Thursday of every week, so you have time to go to the store, get what you need, and get busy in the kitchen.   Then I'll post pictures over the weekend.

Here's the list for ya!

Spinach Salad with Roasted Salmon and Potatoes

Easy Eggplant Parmesan

Broccoli Quiche

Mustard Seared Salmon

Tortellini Soup

Crunchy Oven-Baked Catfish with Lemon Dill Sauce

Orzo and Shrimp Salad with Asparagus

Lebanese Style Lentil and Rice with Spinach

Shrimp and Corn over Cheesy Mashed Potatoes

Light Clam Chowder

White Pizza with Roasted Garlic and Shrimp

Fettucine with Roasted Red Pepper Cream Sauce and Grilled Shrimp

Cheesy Shrimp and Rice Casserole

Roasted Tomato Basil Soup

Stayed tuned for my first Lenten post on Wednesday....Broccoli Cheese Soup.  It's SO GOOD!

God bless your table tonight!

Sweets for your Sweets

David and I aren't much for going out, so when we do, it's nice to eat alone...no kids fighting, food flying, milk spilling adventures, all while we're trying to eat.  All of you with chittlins' know what I'm talking about!

Last year for Valentine's Day, I made these incredible burgers, homemade steak fries, and a peanut butter chocolate cake.  It was divine y'all...simply divine. 

This year, we got lucky.  One of David's clients gave us a gift card for Christmas, and friends of ours voluteered to babysit (provided I cooked them dinner for them beforehand).  Well I can handle that!

So I really don't have a big, lovey post for Valentine's Day...but I will make some suggestions if you want to make dinner for your special someone. 

BBQ Chicken Pizza

Rum Glazed Shrimp and Mango Skewers

Grilled London Broil with Roasted Vegetables

Fettucine with Roasted Red Pepper Sauce and Grilled Shrimp

Turkey Sliders with Caramlized Onions

Chocolate Cherry Cake with Chocolate Glaze

The Pioneer's Red Velvet Cake (turned into cupcakes)

Last but not least, I made these for the kids this week:

I just used my sugar cookie recipe, frosted, and decorated with red and white sprinkles.  Simple but pretty. 

Hope you enjoy a special meal with someone you love.  God bless your table tonight!

2 New Recipes to Try (or my version of "surf-n-turf")

I finally felt well enough to cook this past weekend. I made one dish we've had before, and one I've never tried.

Friday night, I made these:

Rum-Glazed Shrimp and Mango Skewers

Let me tell you, shrimp are great, but when you make a glaze with rum and baste them while they're grillin', they're AWESOME. And you can put in a little more than 1/4 of a cup of rum...it can't hurt right? LOL!

I made some roasted green beans on the side. We have green beans GALORE in the garden right now...every time we pick, we average 4 pounds every 5-7 days. I know...it's crazy!

And Sunday night, I made this (which btw, was SO good, I went to the store, bought another pork butt, and made another batch the following day!):

Pork Carnitas

I used cilantro and green onions from the garden (instead of thinly sliced regular onions), and David loved it. I was skeptical because I though for sure the pork would be tough, but it was tender and delicious. The second time I made them, I added a packet of Sazon GOYA (a seasoning packet you can find in the Mexican aisle of the grocery store). I am not sure it added anything, but I was trying to add a bit more flavor to the pork. Regardless, it was really good, and so easy to make.

We had black beans (right out of the can) and grilled corn-on-the-cob on the side. Grilled corn is a snap to make. Just take an ear of corn, and strip off all the husk. Rub it all over with some butter, and season to taste with salt and pepper. Wrap in aluminum foil, seal the ends, and grill over medium-low heat for about 20 minutes. This is the easiest way for our family to eat corn-on-the-cob; putting the butter on beforehand means we don't have to put butter on all the kids' corn when we sit down to eat dinner. It really saves time!

I am having a little get-together at my house on Friday, so check back to see what I made :-)

(I'll give you a hint, it involves PASTA!)

Silver Turtles

We went camping this past weekend with Joshua's Cub Scout troop and made "Silver Turtles," (foil packet meals) for dinner. You don't have to go camping to enjoy these...just fire up your outdoor grill.

Set up your outdoor campfire (or grill) with a nice layer of charcoal. Let that burn for a good 20-30 minutes until you have white coals.

Lay out a large sheet of heavy duty foil. Fold it in half, and then at the crease, make another fold about 1 inch wide. This creates a "expansion joint" so as the food cooks, any steam will be contained, but not so much that it makes the packet burst open.

The Den Leader had all the ingredients set up on the table, and here's what I put in mine-- a hamburger patty (well-seasoned on both sides with seasoned salt), canned tomatoes, potatoes, corn, green peppers, and onions. If you look closely, you can see how the foil is folded in the middle.

Lay the foil packets folded side up and let the cook for about 15 minutes. You should start hearing it sizzle after this time is up. Turn it over and let it continue to cook until the potatoes are done. You may have to check it a couple of times. Most of them were done after about 20 minutes, but others took longer. It really depends how hot the coals were, so your cooking time may be very different.
You could use chicken breasts if you wanted too...but I know the hamburger patties were probably cheaper to buy in bulk. Some other ingredients available that I didn't put in my packet (but did in my second packet) were jalapenos, cream of mushroom soup, celery, baby carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, and canned tomato soup.

Fold the foil over all the raw ingredients, making sure to close up all the edges. You want all the cooking liquid and steam to stay inside so your meal stays nice and moist. Use a permanent marker and write you name on the outside of the packet--after all, you don't want anyone else to eat your creation!


We had so many foil packets, we had 2 fires going. Here's my hubby monitoring one of them.


When it's done, carefully open the packet--the steam will be VERY hot, and let it cool for about 5 minutes before digging in.

All the kids enjoyed making these...since you get to decide what to put in the foil. There's no complaining about dinner if you made it yourself, right?

I'd love to experiment with these some other time. I'll bet some sweet potatoes, smoked sausage, salsa, or fennel would taste great (not all together necessarily!).

Hope you have a chance to try this out sometime!

God bless your camp tonight!

Cheap Meal Ideas

David saw an article about this sweet lady on www.spiritdaily.com/. You have to watch her on YouTube. Here's a sampling--the show is called Depression Cooking with Clara.



Since we're trying to watch our food budget, I plan to watch all her episodes at some point. I figure a 91 year great grandmother who grew up during the Great Depression ought to know a thing or two about cooking frugal meals.

Recipes for Lent

Every Friday, I hope to post a meat-free dish for all my fellow Catholics out there. In the meantime, here's a list of possibilities from my archives. (And don't forget--pancakes, waffles, or eggs are great for dinners too during Lent. You could also make veggie pizza/calzones, pasta, or salad without meat).

Broccoli Quiche

BBQ Shrimp

Easy Eggplant Parmesan

Spinach Salad with Roasted Salmon and Potatoes

And if you need more ideas, look no further than the Internet. My favorite websites to browse for ideas and recipes are:

allrecipes.com

foodnetwork.com

I really like allrecipes.com because it's easy to search for recipes, plus they have reviews of nearly all of them...people are not afraid to tell you what they liked/disliked about a particular dish. I like foodnetwork.com, however since those recipes are by chefs, they are sometimes too complicated for my taste. But I do come across really great ideas and often adapt a recipe to suit me.

So don't worry, the next 40 days will be a breeze...and I'll be there right along with you :-)

Slow Week

I haven't been cooking much this week, mainly because I made a pork roast last Friday that made enough for 3 meals, David and I got to go to a basketball game Sunday night, we have to abstain from meat Wednesday and Friday, and we have 2 potluck dinners this week. So I decided to just be a bit lazy, but I will share with you the recipes I'm using this week in case you need an idea.

In the past week, I've made (or plan to make)

Barbeque Pork Roast

Broccoli Cheese Casserole

Mustard Seared Salmon

Fast and Friendly Turkey Meatballs

Nanny's Spaghetti Sauce
(to go with the meatballs)

Hope y'all don't mind me slacking a bit...half of us have the sniffles too, and I find myself busy holding Angel Boy a lot the past few days. If I end up taking pics, I promise to post them later on.