Roasted Cauliflower Soup & Fennel-Orange Salad

In no way do I fancy myself a food blogger, or even a decent cook, but these both turned out good, so I thought I would share.

One of my New Year's Resolutions is to be kinder to my body, and since my body is all "wtf dairy?" lately, when I have some, that means eating more vegan meals. Not to mention, I know that I feel better physically when the majority of my diet is fresh fruits/vegetables, and I need to get back to that.



Roasted Cauliflower Soup

* 1 small head cauliflower, chopped in medium-sized chunks
* 3 cloves garlic (I had 5 tiny ones from the inside of the bulb)
* 1/2 onion, cut into large pieces
* 1/2 bulb fennel, cut into large pieces
* 1 wedge lemon
* 2 tsp. olive oil
* 2 tsp. sesame oil

Toss above with olive/sesame oil mixture and squeeze the lemon over, then roast in 400 degree oven (with the wedge of the lemon) until edges are browning.

* 1/4 c. white wine
* 1 large bay leaf (or 2 small)
* 8 c. water
* bouillon cube, your choice flavor (I used vegetable)
* small pinch saffron threads

Add to soup pot with 1/4 c. white wine and bay leaf, and heat on medium until wine has almost all sizzled away. Add eight cups water, saffron and bouillon cube. Bring to boil uncovered, making sure the cube is dissolved. Reduce heat to simmer and taste your broth. Add salt if needed (mine needed it, and a few cracks of pepper). Simmer, covered, for 30 minutes.

At about 10 minutes remaining, stir in -

* 1/4 tsp. dried tarragon
* 1/4 tsp. dried rosemary
* 1/4 tsp. dried herbes de provence
* 1/2 tsp. dried parsley

Return to simmer for the remaining time.

Remove bay leaves and the lemon wedge, and puree with immersion blender. Alternately, blend in small batches in a blender or food processor. Taste again and add more salt/pepper if it needs it (mine did). I turned the heat up to medium-low here for a few minutes to get it hot again before I had some.

Sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds to serve.

Note: I added 2 tbs. soy creamer while I pureed, but that could be an optional thing. Also, I'm a loser who missed one of the bay leaves, so it got pureed in. Still good!


Fennel-Orange Salad

* 1/2 bulb fennel, sliced as thin as you can
* small amount of thinly sliced white onion - it was maybe a tablespoon's worth, if that
* 1 orange, sectioned
* 2 tsp. sesame oil
* 1 tbs. orange juice (could squeeze it out of what's left of the orange)
* pinch salt

I put all the ingredients in a Tupperware container and shook it to mix them. I also let it rest in the fridge overnight.

To serve, I sprinkled toasted sesame seeds and a little black pepper.

Note: If you don't want to mess with sectioning an orange, 1/2 a cup of canned/drained mandarin oranges would probably work well.