Old Favorites, New Adventures

 I got a request from my sister-in-law last week to post my roasted veggie recipe and it got me thinking. I don't really have a recipe - I just pull veggies out of the fridge, chop, and add some olive oil to moisten. Then I spread them out on a stoneware pan and top with fresh herbs, a few grinds of pink himalayan sea salt and fresh ground pepper. I roast them in oven at 400 for about 20 – 25 minutes depending on size of veggies and the crunch factor I desire – That's it!

I did more than roast veggies this week tho – as promised I got the Spiralizer out of the closet and made a sweet potato and fennel dish that will definitely be reappearing at the dinner table – vegetarian or otherwise.

I forget about using fennel – I grew it in my garden last summer and I've got some of the fronds drying in my garage. I love adding it to soups and stews to give them a distinctive taste. But, I don't cook with it as often as I'd like to – guess it's time for a change.

I started with a recipe from the Inspiralized site here. I substituted feta (sheep's milk) for the pecorino, black olives for the kalamata and cherry tomatoes (which is what I had on hand) for the plum tomatoes. 

I started by spiralizing 2 large sweet potatoes and tossing them with about 2 Tbsps. of olive oil. I put them in my trusty and well loved 9 x 12 Pampered Chef stoneware pan and seasoned them with pink himalayan sea salt and pepper.

Then I quartered 2 large fennel bulbs, tossed them with olive oil and placed them on top of the sweet potato noodles and added some oregano (ok lots of oregano, I really like the taste).  I added crumbled feta on top of the noodles and fennel and then set the pan to bake in a 375-degree oven for approximately 50 minutes (which was actually a tad too long in my oven – next time I'll go for 45).

I took it out of the oven, added the sliced tomatoes, olives and a bit more cheese and then put it back in the over for 5 – 7 minutes until the tomatoes were softened. Here's what it looked like coming out of the oven before we devoured it – Dinner!

Not to be left out of the kitchen, the hubby whipped up a delicious date bread to accompany our meal. 

 Next week - eggplant - because someone has to love it :-)