Apple, Fennel, and Onion Slaw

I've been blog cooking Thanksgiving dishes all week and I must say...I'm stuffed! I've gained 5 pounds this week alone and it's not even Thanksgiving yet. I've had to make most of my the recipes twice to tweak it here or there until the flavors are just right. So the day I started this salad was a welcome reprieve from the "Chilaquiles Corn Bread Stuffing, Creamed Corn Casserole, Pumpkin Challah bread, Corn and Squash Casserole, and Pumpkin Pasta Manicotti Eating Extravaganza" of this last week. It's simple, light and loaded with deliciousness. This recipe is so good, I surprised myself. 😋 Besides it's awesome flavor, it's a make-ahead salad so it's super easy and convenient to make and bring to Thanksgiving potlucks or family get-together any time of year. 
Shred up some crunchy green cabbage, slice up some paper-thin red onions, shave up a bulb of fennel, cut up some super sweet crisp apples like Honey Crisp, Pink Lady, or Rockit™ apples toss with a sweet Maple Dijon Vinaigrette and refrigerate overnight! Let the flavors mingle and get to know each other and come morning, you have the perfect blend of fresh and bright, crunchy and sweet Apple, Fennel and Onion Slaw! Happy Thanksgiving!

Apple, Fennel, and Onion Slaw

 Serves 10-12


1 head of cabbage, finely shredded
1 small bulb fennel, cored and thinly shaved
1/4 red onion, thinly shaved
3-4 sweet crisp apples, cut into matchsticks (I used Rockit™ Apples)
juice of 1 lemon
1/2 cup sliced almonds


Maple Dijon Dressing
1 small shallots, finely minced
3 T Dijon mustard
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/3 cup canola oil
1/2  t.  salt
1/4 t. pepper

Prepare dressing first. Combine all ingredients, adding the oil slowly while whisking to emulsify the vinaigrette and set aside. 
Next, prepare the vegetables and apples. Finely shred cabbage, rinse and spin dry and place in a large bowl.Thinly slice about 1/4 cup of red onions and add to cabbage. 

Cut apples into matchsticks and place in another bowl and squeeze with lemon to prevent browning, let apples sit in lemon juice while preparing the fennel. 

Cut fennel in half and remove the core and then finely shave thin slices of fennel placing the shaved fennel in a small bowl with about 2 T of dressing. Stir to coat fennel with dressing to prevent browning, then add it to the bowl with cabbage and onions. 

Now add the apples and almonds to the bowl. Add about half the Maple Dijon dressing using tongs to turn and coat the vegetables. Add salt and pepper to taste, cover and refrigerate a few hours or overnight. Reserve the remaining dressing. The next day, remove slaw from the fridge. Note that the cabbage has softened a bit and some of that water has now collected at the bottom of your bowl. Carefully drain some of that liquid that collected overnight and then toss with more of the reserved dressing and enjoy! Top with more almonds if desired.

More recipes to try:

Cream of Mushroom Soup with Pancetta

Kale Salad with Walnuts and Golden Raisins

Sauteed Collard Greens

Toil and Trouble Soup (Roasted Potato Cauliflower Soup)

Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn and cauldron bubble...Hello my little pretties...It's time to get ready for All Hallows Eve. We've waited all year and the time is finally upon us, so fire up your cauldrons and get ready to fill up the kiddies with this mysteriously delicious Toil and Trouble Soup. Don't let the name scare you. You won't be stuck stirring your cauldron all day, it comes together as easily as a wave of your wand. Gorgeous roasted violet cauliflower and two kinds of purple potatoes are blended with sauteed onions, white carrots, garlic and fennel to make a satisfying and beautifully festive Halloween Meal. It's sure to keep the kids warm as they venture out for a night of trick-or-treating. Serve it all by itself or with BLT sandwiches.  I topped my soup with crispy homemade potato chips, sour cream and chives, but feel free add cheddar cheese and bacon bits, just like a loaded Baked Potato Soup.  Enjoy!
                             🎃🎃🎃 6 days until Halloween  🎃🎃🎃

Toil and Trouble Soup (Roasted Potato Cauliflower Soup)

Adapted recipe from wifemamafoodie.com
Serves 4-6

2 purple sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1" pieces
5-6 purple potatoes, peeled and cut into 1" pieces
1 small head of purple cauliflower, cut up
olive oil
3 very small purple potatoes for frying, sliced thin
1/2 bulb fennel, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
4-5 cloves garlic, chopped
1 small *white carrot, diced (1/2 cup)
4 cups chicken stock(substitute with vegetable stock)
salt and pepper to taste
1 tsp Penzeys® Parisien Herbs (substitute 1/2 tsp dried chives & 1/4 tsp thyme)
chives (garnish)
fried purple potatoes (garnish)
swirl of sour cream

NOTE*Do not use Orange or purple carrots for this soup. Remember the color wheel in Art class...Orange + Purple = Brown. Trust me on this...my first attempt I used purple carrots...BTW they are orange on the inside...and the soup turned a disturbing shade of brown.  No beautiful violet soup...only earthy ugly brown.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees
Prepare potatoes and cauliflower and toss with enough olive oil to evenly coat vegetables. Spread out on a parchment lined cookie sheet and roast for 30-35 minutes or until vegetables are cooked.

While vegetables are cooking quickly fry some sliced purple potatoes into crunchy chips for garnish. Drain on a paper towel and salt. (I sprinkled these with a gorgeous purple sea salt I picked up at Aldi® last year, but don't sweat it if you don't have purple salt, regular Kosher salt works too.)

In a large dutch oven, add 1 T olive oil, onions, white carrots and fennel and saute until vegetables are tender, ~10 minutes. Add chicken stock and simmer for a few minutes. Add roasted vegetables to the pot and heat for about 2-3 minutes to soften some of the roasted vegetables that might have browned in the oven. Add 1 tsp Parisien Herbes or substitute with 1/2 dried chives and 1/4 tsp thyme.

In batches, transfer soup to a blender and puree until smooth. Salt and pepper to taste.  Ladle into bowls and swirl in some sour cream, top with purple chips and chives and Enjoy!

More Halloween recipes to try:

Vampire Slayer Soup

Eye of Newt Stew

Spider Caviar

Roasted Fennel and Broccoli

Let's be honest, vegetable side dishes are a hard sell during the holidays. There are just too many other savory, cheesy, yummy choices to convince family members to squeeze some broccoli into that last space between the mashed potatoes and corn casserole, when a second dinner roll would fit just as nicely. Thank you very much. 
To compete with all this yumminess, most holiday vegetables are turned into casseroles loaded with cream and cheese...Mmm...I love creamy, cheesy vegetables casseroles. LOVE them! But this year, I was determined to make a delicious vegetable side dish for Thanksgiving that was still yummy without all the casserole-ish-ness. For me, the next best thing is roasted vegetables. I made this Roasted Fennel and Broccoli and it was incredible! Roasting them in a mustard shallot dressing and topping with Parmesan cheese makes a super savory side dish. My biggest fan and my biggest critic is my husband. So when he has two servings, of a vegetable no less, I'll take that as high praise. 😋
Happy Holidays!

Roasted Fennel and Broccoli

Serves 6

1 1/2-2 lbs. broccoli florets
1 fennel bulb, core removed and sliced to 1/4" slices
Mustard Shallot Marinade
2 small shallots, finely minced
1 clove garlic, finely minced
2 T Dijon mustard
1/2 cup canola oil
salt and pepper

Preheat oven 400 degrees

In a large mixing bowl, add shallot, garlic and mustard and whisk together. Next add the canola oil in a steady stream while whisking to emulsify the marinade. Add salt and pepper to taste and set aside.

Prepare veggies. Cut off top of fennel bulb and reserve the leaves for garnish. Slice fennel bulb in quarters and remove hard core from bottom and slice into 1/4" slices. Place fennel slices in the dressing and stir until coated. Cut fennel will brown if left in the air.  

Add broccoli florets and toss to coat. Spread veggies out in a single layer on a parchment lined cookie sheet and roast at 400 degrees for 30-40 minutes or until fennel is soft. Sprinkle generously with fresh Parmesan cheese and chopped fennel leaves. Enjoy!

Other easy side dishes to try:

Sauteed Collard Greens

Parmesan Creamed Onions

Roasted Potatoes with Bacon and Parmesan

Rustic Minestrone with Butternut Squash and Fennel

Today is my best friend Julie's birthday. Most years, I feel terrible because I always forget her birthday given it's two days after Christmas. With all the hustle and bustle going on before Christmas, once Christmas is over, regrettably I go into shut down mode and forget her birthday. Sorry Juls. :( Well not this year, I've been thinking about her a lot these last few months, especially the last few days since I made this amazing soup and decided to blog this recipe for her. 
She has graciously allowed me to tell her story in hope that it will help others. Julie had a pretty tough year health-wise. Early this summer she told me that she had been experiencing some weakness and numbness on one side that was noticeably disruptive and limited her being able to do normal everyday things. She knew there was something wrong because it did not go away after a few days, as you would expect with muscle fatigue. She went to the doctor and after many visits, tests and an MRI she was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS). My typical Julie, with her unshakable positive attitude and empowering outlook on life, took it in stride. At least that's the side she showed me. I know she was worried, as I was, but we hugged and talked about what it meant for her. Where she approaches life positively in the face of adversity, I approach troubling news clinically, hiding my fears by going right into trouble shooting and knowledge seeking modes ...What's the treatment plan? What's the prognosis? What's next? ...Are you okay?

Julie bravely gave herself injections as she struggled through treatment of her first episode of MS. Her doctor gave her information about keeping cool and limiting overly exerting exercises and then put her on a diet that helps to lessen symptoms and shorten MS episodes. The diet is vegetable heavy with animal protein sources recommended, limiting soy and dairy, and gluten. Last month, Julie asked me if I could help come up with some recipes for her since filling up half your diet with primarily vegetables is a challenge on a good day. I gladly accepted and I've been thinking about vegetables ever since. How do I incorporate them in dishes so that they are filling and satisfying? 
Last week, I experimented with an amazing vegetable sauce that I used to top some mushroom ravioli and it was amazing. But, since ravioli has gluten, I'm having to retool the dish omitting the pasta. I already know this sauce will be amazing on marinated grilled chicken. Once it's perfected you'll see it on the blog as well. I also made some delicious Roasted Sweet Potatoes over Thanksgiving that I plan to blog for her as well. They were to die for. 

All this experimentation with veggies, brings me to this Rustic Minestrone Soup. It is gluten and dairy free with heavy vegetables and a little bit of leftover Christmas ham, which can be swapped with other meats or omitted if you want a meatless meal. I actually found this recipe in an old magazine (circa 2003) as an advertisement for Turning Leaf Wine. Strangely enough what caught my eye in this recipe was the use of butternut squash and fennel. I remember Julie told me that root vegetables and other vegetables like butternut squash were good things for her to eat. So I gave it a go on Christmas Day and it was phenomenal! That's a Julie word. Julie is always complimentary and uses great words, like phenomenal to let you know she likes something. :) I adapted the recipe just slightly by roasting the fennel and butternut squash first to sweeten the vegetables up a bit. Plus roasting the fennel transformed the Anise taste into something buttery and absolutely phenomenal.  It was even better the next day as all those flavors blended together beautifully.
Happy Birthday Julie! I love you! 

Stay tuned for more Julie recipes to come. 

Rustic Minestrone (adapted recipe from Turning Leaf Wine)
Serves 4-6

2 T olive oil
1 lb (~2 cups) butternut squash, peeled, seeded and chopped into even chunks
1 small fennel bulb, quartered with fiberous core removed
salt and pepper, to taste 2 t olive oil
1 1/2 cups ham, chopped 
1 small onion, chopped
1 large carrot, chopped
5 cloves of garlic, minced (about 2T)
2 t fresh thyme, finely minced
2 t fresh rosemary, finely minced
1 can (14.5oz) diced tomatoes in Italian herbs
6 cups chicken stock
2 bay leaves
2 cups Swiss Chard,chopped (or Spinach)
1 can (15 oz) cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
salt and pepper, to taste

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Toss butternut squash and fennel with 2 T olive oil and transfer to parchment lined cookie sheet. (I used a pie plate) Salt and pepper to taste and roast for 30-35 minutes. Allow fennel to cool and then chop. Set the butternut squash aside to add to the soup later. 

Add 2 t olive oil, ham, carrots, onions, garlic, roasted fennel and herbs to a large Dutch oven and saute until onions are translucent and the carrots are tender crisp, about 10 minutes. Add chicken stock, tomatoes with juice, and bay leaves and simmer for 20 minutes. Add Swiss chard, roasted butternut squash and cannellini beans and simmer for another 15 minutes or longer. Salt and pepper to taste and enjoy! (For gluten free: omit the rolls.)

For more information about Multiple Sclerosis, contact the National MS Society at this link.