Roasted Cauliflower and Onions

Cauliflower was not a very common vegetable in our house growing up.  I just remember it as a raw vegetable on party plates for dipping.  Now that I have reviewed several recipes, it appears that there is a vast amount of ways you can prepare cauliflower.  The most common is to roast or puree.  Actually, pureed cauliflower resembles mashed potatoes, but there is lots of dairy ingredients included to get it to the "creamy stage".

I chose this particular recipe because it requires very little ingredients.  The result is a simple, tasty dish that even veggie haters can enjoy.  Roasting time is about an hour but the prep time is only 10-15 minutes. This recipe serves about 4-6 people.

Oven Roasted Cauliflower and Onions
adapted from  allthatspatters.blogspot,com

Ingredients
2 tbs of lemon juice 
4 tbs olive oil
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
2 onions (cut into cubes)
2 tsp minced or 4 cloves (halved) of garlic
1 head of cauliflower (cut into small florets)
optional garnishes: parsley flakes, chives, red pepper or grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Prepare a pan by lining with foil. The vegetables can be cooked in a roasting pan, 9X13 Pyrex pan or large casserole dish.

Prepare the dressing by whisking together lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper in a small bowl and set aside.  Take a large bowl and mix together garlic, onions and cauliflower.  Add the dressing and toss the vegetables, making sure all is evenly distributed.

Spoon vegetable mixture evenly into prepared pan and place in oven. Total bake time is an hour, but it will need to be stirred every ten minutes. It will be stirred for a total of 5 times.  Once completely roasted, pull out pan and garnish as desired.  Serve hot.

Nutty Stuffed Zucchini

Since we all should be eating our veggies, it is time that I post something for this category.  Most of your average eaters like zucchini.  It is a well accepted vegetable as opposed to beets.  Every time I think of beets I think of Dwight Shrewt (on the TV show called "The Office") and his beet farm.  Farming beets is probably a very unprofitable venture.  Come to think of it, I do not know a single person who likes beets.  Anyhow, back to the zucchini recipe:

Nutty Stuffed Zucchini 
adapted from recipe link
Ingredients
1/4 cup bread crumbs
2 tbs grated parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp thyme
1 tsp parsley
1/2 tsp oregano
4 zucchini
1 tbs melted butter
1 onion
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 tbs olive oil
1 tsp salt

First, prepare a casserole dish or bottom of a roasting pan by spraying with non stick spray.  Then chop up the onion and set aside.  Take a zucchini and slice down the length, your slice should be an inch to 1 1/2 inches wide.  Then hollow out the inside like a canoe, leaving 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick shell.  Also, cut off about 1/2 inch from each end.  Discard the ends and chop up the pieces left from hollowing out the zucchini and put in the bowl with the chopped onion.  Continue with the rest of the zucchini.

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.

Put the oil in a saute pan and place on the stove at medium heat.  Once the oil is heated add the walnuts, chopped zucchini pieces and onions.  Stir and cook until vegetables are tender, about 5 minutes and remove from heat.

Then add your spices (salt, pepper, parsley, oregano and thyme) and mix until combined.  The bread crumbs and Parmesan are to be stirred in next. Once everything is evenly distributed, stuff the mixture inside the hollowed out zucchini. 

Place zucchini in the prepared dish/pan and bake for 20 minutes.  Remove from oven and brush with melted butter.  Then put back in oven to bake for an additional 10 minutes.  Let cool for 5 minutes before serving.