side dish

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One of the cookbooks that has been inspiring me this week is The Secret Ingredient by Sally Bee. I wrote about The Secret Ingredient last year, and I picked up again this weekend when trying to plan out some healthy and exciting meals. I love that this book never sacrifices flavor. It treats food as something that is supposed to be pleasurable but also something that is meant to be fueling and healing.

As a lover of fennel, I was excited to try a take on Sally Bee’s Crunchy Baked Fennel recipe. I bought two giant bulbs at Trader Joe’s over the weekend.

fennel

I cut the fennel into quarters and put the quarters into boiling water for about eight minutes.

fennel

While the fennel was boiling, I sliced a summer squash and a sweet onion. The original recipe did not include either, but I had them and thought they would go well with the other ingredients.

summer squash

Once the fennel was soft, I layered the veggies in my new casserole dish. My sister and family got me a whole set of these dishes for my birthday, including cute little ramekins and new loaf dishes. I love them!

baked vegetables

I topped the layers of veggies with slivers of garlic, panko bread crumbs, and olive oil.

crunchy baked vegetables

Into a 400 degree oven they went, and 20 minutes later, I had these crunchy baked vegetables. The anise-flavor of the soft, gooey fennel, the sweetness of the onion, and the buttery bread crumbs all went perfectly together. This veggie side dish was incredibly enjoyable. And it was the perfect side for my fish in a packet. I wish dinner was this good and healthy every night!

What should I make next?

Tags: fennel, health, healthy recipe, onions, side dish, squash, vegan, vegetables, Vegetarian

Heart healthy and nutrient rich yes, a favorite of meat and potatoes eating men? Not always. Broccoli is one of those vegetables that people love or hate. Just like other greens and Brussels sprouts (which you know I love love love!), broccoli can, I firmly believe, be dressed up to make people like it. The broccoli dish I made a few nights ago is so delicious I would dare to say it is even fancy and fun enough for a special Valentine’s Day meal at home.

broccoli

I started with a whole bag of broccoli florets, cutting the larger ones so that the florets were all uniform in size. I also roughly chopped a bit of red onion, about 1/2 cup. The onions went straight into a sizzling frying pan, coated well with olive oil, and they cooked until softened, just a couple of minutes. I then added in the broccoli, gave it a stir, and let it go.

red onions and broccoli

While the onions and broccoli were cooking, I chopped three slices of prosciutto that were left over from the chicken saltimbocca I made on Sunday.

prosciutto

To cook the prosciutto, I pushed the broccoli and onions to one side of the pan and put the prosciutto into a little bit of oil. After another couple of minutes, I mixed the prosciutto in with the broccoli, cooked the whole mixture for a few more minutes, and served.

broccoli and onions

Excuse the appearance of this dinner. It was a late night for the hubby, and this was all I could muster feeling sore and tired from my long run. He loved it though!

broccoli and chicken

The prosciutto provides some really nice salty flavors, and broccoli, when cooked just long enough, actually can have a little bit of a melt-in-your-mouth quality to it. This is probably not THE healthiest way to eat your veggies, but it is a great way to sneak something green into a menu without sacrificing flavor.

I still have not come up with a Valentine’s Day menu, but I am beyond excited about Valentine’s Day. I’ll definitely be spending some time this weekend looking through blogs and magazines for ideas for a special menu!

Do you have any hints for getting veggie haters to eat their vegetables?

Tags: broccoli, Food, prosciutto, recipe, recipes, side dish, vegetables

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