We are counting down the days until we leave for Nashville on Friday! It’s an almost-6 hour drive and we’re headed straight to see Umphrey’s McGee on Friday night! We’ll explore all day Saturday, have a leisurely morning on Sunday, then drive home.
Last night I tried some new foods.
As you know, I’m new at a lot of this all natural living, so there’s quite a bit I haven’t tried. I checked two foods off my list last night: Parsnips and Fennel.
I made Parsnip and Fennel Soup from this Real Simple recipe. Christine at Bun & Burough also posted this recipe as well, which is where I originally found it! My ingredients included:
2 tbsp olive oil
2 leeks, sliced
3 small parsnips, peeled and cut into 1/4-inch pieces
1 organic fennel bulb, cored and cut into 1/4-inch pieces
1 organic small white onion, chopped
salt and pepper
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 pound organic gold potatoes, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
5 cups organic chicken or vegetable broth
1/4 cup fresh chopped dill
Yes, I understand it looks like baby food but it was actually very good! Kind of like an onion potato soup. There were still some potato chunks floating around, and the onion taste was undeniable (perfect for me!). This is the perfect soup to accompany any meal.
Tonight is a crockpot meal, which leaves me time to bake 
I’d also like to get a walk in, since the high today is 65 degrees!
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I had fennel yesterday! We had a guest chef on campus who served chicken with a nice fennel and green apple slaw on top. I’ve never had raw fennel before yesterday, but I’ve had it cooked in soups before.
I don’t fear I will burn the house down, but I do fear I will burn my food! I leave for work around 7:20am and don’t get home until after 6 most days. The only two times I’ve left the crock on while at work, our dinner was INCINERATED when we got home and we had to eat something else. It probably has a lot to do with having a fairly cheap crock pot– I suppose if I invested in a fancier model with more heat settings and a delay, the food might fare better!
I don’t think I’ve ever had had fennel myself, now i’m curious to try it!
And I’m interested in what people suggest for Nashville! I know we’re looking for a few things to do as well :]
I like parnsips AND fennel but to be honest fennel scares me a little.. My favorite way to have parsnips is in fry form.
I am deathly afraid to leave the crock pot on when I go to work. So much so that I only do crock pot meals on the weekends.
NO! Burning the house down is a HUGE fear of mine and because of that I’ve always been nervous when leaving the crock pot on when I’m not home.
I haven’t ever cooked with FRESH fennel, but I *love* parsnips. However, I’ve only ever had them roasted (with a little bit of extra virgin olive oil and some Montreal chicken seasoning). It’s part of a simple roast chicken recipe I have, basically just quarter a whole chicken (or buy it already quartered, just make sure the bones are still in and the skin is still on), rub with EVOO and Montreal Chicken Seasoning. Roast that at 425 for ten minutes; remove the roasting pan from the oven and add the veggies (5-7 Yukon Gold potatoes, 4-6 carrots, 4-6 parsnips, all peeled and chopped and tossed with EVOO and Montreal Chicken seasoning). Throw it all back in the oven and continue roasting at 425 for about 45 minutes
Good recipe! I’ll have to try that sometime. Thanks.
I’ve only used parsnips once….we chopped and roasted a bunch of parsnips and turnips, and smothered them in melted cheese. They were sort of like root-vegetable-nachos that way.
Crockpots are totally safe.
I’ve left one on for 12 hours once (I adore cooking in the crockpot!). If you need any recipes, let me know….my mother and I compiled a bunch of them in Word format a few years back. 
Have a great time in Nashville!!
I would so-o-o love the crockpot recipes, Beth. If you would share them I’d be very grateful.
Susan
I only had parsnip once before, but I made it into “parsnip fries” -cutting into fries and roasting with olive oil and salt & pepper. It was really good. I haven’t tried cooking with fennel yet but I need to!
Mmm I’ve cooked with parsnips before but never fennel–does it have a licorice taste at all? I thought I heard somewhere it did, which is why I’ve stayed away from it until now (I really don’t like licorice!)
I am always worried I’m going to burn the house down or our cat is going to get into it and burn himself. We put it on top of our microwave cart where there is no extra room for him to “land” but I still don’t trust him
I’ve never had fennel before either but that soup looks delicious!
I’m a huge fan of Onion Soup (especially French..) so I’m pretty interested in something that’s not as painful to prepare but yields a similar taste.
It would be interesting to know the difference in nutrient value between onions and fennel.
OMG!! Have a great time in Nashville (a city that is very high on my “must-see before I die” list) and enjoy the Umphrey’s McGee show! I haven’t seen them yet but hear great things!
Ooooh, that looks delish! Do you think this soup would freeze well?
I love fennel but I’m not sure I’ve had a parsnip. At least not by itself!
I don’t care so much for fennel or parsnips–good thing EVOL doesn’t put those in their burritos!
Ahhh, Nashville is so fun. Your concert is right downtown, so something fun to do after might be to hit the honky tonks on Broadway. Touristy but a good time. The best one IMO is Robert’s Western World. There aren’t a lot of great places to eat downtown, though, so I would recommend branching out a bit. East Nashville is close by and has a lot of great restaurants: Family Wash is funky and cool, Marche is tasty (brunch especially), Silly Goose has delicious lunch food.
As for things to do, if you are into music or the history of music, the tour of the Ryman Auditorium is great. The Country Hall of Fame is really interesting as well. Both are downtown. It’s also fun to visit the Pantheon in Centennial Park. Nashville is the Athens of the South, after all.
I’m pretty sure my phone autocorrected that…it’s the Parthenon! Yep, totally blaming that on the phone.
Oooh have fun in Nashville! I’ve never been there but I love Umphrey’s- jealous!
I haven’t gone to any fun shows in awhile
I know I’ve had parsnips before but I can’t for the life of me remember where.
and YES i worry about the crockpot catching on fire too! haha.
I keep seeing parsnips but haven’t had a chance to try them yet. This soup looks awesome!
Yummmm that soup looks amazing! Did you find the fennel tasted a lot like liquorice?
Also, I don’t use a crock pot, but if I did, I can almost guarantee that I’d share your fear. I ALWAYS worry about that kind of stuff!
I’m glad to know how I’m not the only one with the crock pot fear. I hear people *raving* about how they can come to a delicious meal after work with half of the effort and I want to know how they do it without letting the crock pot catch fire or the dinner inside to burn!
(you know, someday there’s going to be a special crock pot app where you can just turn off your crock pot from your phone to eliminate this fear, lol. wouldn’t doubt it!)
- Vanessa
Project Zen
I haven’t tried fennel yet – it’s on the list
Also, I will not use a crock pot – they terrify me. And even if I didn’t think I would burn my house down, I don’t get how they help someone who works full time. Most of the recipes I see for them say to cook for 8 hours. Hello, I’m at work for 8hrs, and somedays more – plus lunch, plus commute time. Maybe the newer ones have an automatic timer on them that turns on after you leave? But you probably couldn’t leave your food out on the counter in the crockpot at room temperature before it started, could you? Oh, the problems!
And as a side note – we got six, yes, six, crockpots when we got married. I guess it was the “in” gift that year.
Fennel is amazing in soups, esp paired with tomatoes. I’ve yet to try parsnips though, and have always been curious as to what they are like!
Adventurous dinner! I love it, it looks delicious. I am a paranoid person, so I always worry about leaving with the crock pot on.
I’ve never tried parsnips or fennel. I am trying new veggies this year so I’m going to bookmark your recipe.
Thanks for all the comments guys! Wednesdays contest is now closed. Check in a couple minutes for the winner!