Artichokes, Fennel and Olives over Penne

This recipe is from Clean Food by Terry Walters, and I was interested in making it because it uses veggies I don't usually cook with. It's made with olive oil, onion, garlic (I substituted a shallot for the garlic), artichoke hearts, olives, fennel, arugula, diced tomatoes, parsley and lemon juice and then is served over penne pasta. (I used rice pasta, of course.) I was a little worried that the strong flavors of the fennel and arugula would make this dish taste really potent, but the lemon juice sort of neutralized the flavors and held everything together nicely. Dennis and I really enjoyed this meal, and I will undoubtedly make it again. I think next time I will add some chickpeas or cannellini beans because they will definitely go nicely with the dish and will add some extra protein.


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Chickpea Confetti Casserole

This recipe is from Dreena Burton's Eat Drink and Be Vegan. It's a super simple and very tasty dish that uses red bell pepper, fennel, chick peas, quinoa and vegetable stock. All of the ingredients are put into a casserole dish and baked in the oven. The quinoa cooks in the casserole dish, so it's a good one-dish meal. I had both regular and black quinoa on hand, so I mixed them together to give the dish a little extra color.

It's been a looooong time since I cooked fennel, and it was nice to have something different for a change. Fennel provides an excellent source of potassium, vitamin C, and fiber. It is also a very good source of folic acid, phosphorous, iron, calcium, magnesium and manganese. Fennel is often used medicinally, and it's known to treat digestion problems, menstrual disorders, respiratory disorders and eye problems. It also contains large amounts of anticancer compounds, so it's a food that should really be eaten more often.




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