Roasted Beet and Grilled Fennel stew

Lately I've been inspired by blogs from home cooks. Maybe they are "foodie blogs;" or maybe "vegan blogs;" whatever their category, there are some awesome looking dishes out there which have been giving me some much needed fresh ideas for what to cook. Somehow it's different than paging through a cookbook. Maybe I've just been lucky to find some poeple out there who seem to cook like I do -- start with an ingredient or a flavor in mind, then build from something fresh and in season to make a meal.

At any rate, tonight I was in "clean out the frig" mode, and my raw materials were 2 bulbs of fennel which were no longer salad-worthy, 2 beets which I roasted a few days ago but didn't use for their original intent, and a walla walla sweet onion. Here's what became of them:
I started some brown basmati, then brushed the fennel with some olive oil and put it on the grill. While those were going, I sauteed the onion in olive oil, added some garlic (2 giant cloves, but I can get heavy-handed), some Trader Joe's pasta seasoning blend, salt and pepper. Then I threw in some veggie field roast sausage. When the sausage was browned, I added the beets (chopped) and a big can of fire roasted tomatoes (Muir Glen). I let that all cook down until most of the liquid had cooked off (long enough for the fennel to grill on both sides and the rice to steam).I added the grilled fennel and a few raw almonds to finish. It was delicious, with the sweet beets and creamy almonds serving as a nice contrast to the bite of the fennel. The basmati's aroma worked well with this flavor combination, but it would be good with pasta or quinoa as well.

The kid version was mainly the raw ingredients from this dish, but not combined. She had the sausage on the side, some plain rice with cheese, chopped cherry tomatoes and almonds. She did eat a couple beets after I told her they make sugar out of beets, and she mixed her almonds and sausage into the rice.