Vegetable & Chickpea Ragout

This recipe is adapted from one at Self.com (the original is embedded in this story which involves prepping parts of 5 meals all at once, so the version below makes it stand-alone). This is a tasty dinner that will leave you feeling both satiated and healthy, because it's meat-free! (for an extra kick of self-satisfaction, toss the ragout with whole-wheat pasta, as I did)

Ingredients
olive oil
1 med onion, chopped
1 red pepper, chopped
1/2 head broccoli, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced

1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes
1 cup chickpeas
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp dried oregano

~ 1/2 cup marinated artichoke hearts, drained & rinsed
1/2 cup frozen peas
1/4 cup sliced black olives

penne, cooked (whole-wheat for added smugness)
1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped

To make
1. Heat a pan over medium heat, add about a tablespoon of olive oil. Add onion, red pepper, broccoli, and garlic. Cook until veggies soften a bit.
2. Simmer tomatoes, chickpeas, cooked vegetables, salt, pepper, oregano, and 1/2 cup water in a medium pot until liquid is reduced by half, ~20 minutes.
3. Add artichokes, peas, and olives to pot. Cook 10 minutes more.
4. Toss ragout with cooked penne and chopped basil.

Sauteed Cauliflower with Tomatoes and Basil

Cauliflower is not a vegetable that I eat very often. Not because I have anything against it; it's just not the first produce that comes to mind when I'm deciding what to make with dinner (maybe because it's not green or orange). But I was browsing around a nearby organic/specialty grocery here the other day and saw some inspiring heads of cauliflower (hm, I bet that's a phrase you've never encountered before), so I took one home and cooked it up with some garlic, basil, and tomatoes. The sauteed cauliflower had a nice chewy nutty thing going on, and was filling enough to serve as a light dinner all by itself. Well, with some cheesecake for dessert :)

Ingredients
1 head of cauliflower
olive oil
a 14.5 oz. can of diced tomatoes
dried basil (because that's what I had, though I'd like to try this again with fresh basil)
3 or 4 cloves garlic, minced or put through a press

To Make
1. Prepare cauliflower florets: Remove leaves from head, remove stem as much as possible. Cut off individual florets, then cut those in half or even quarters to make uniformly-sized pieces of a little over 1 inch square (for quick and even cooking)
2. Heat a couple tablespoons of oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat, until oil shimmers.
3. Add florets, and cook till they start to brown (about 7 minutes).
4. Clear a little space in the center of the pan, and add a bit more oil and the garlic. Cook the garlic for about a minute, then mix the garlic/oil into the cauliflower.
5. Add tomatoes and several shakes of basil, to taste. Can add a little salt and pepper too, though I didn't. Simmer for a few minutes, until cauliflower is chewy, not mushy.