Roasted vegetables - healthy and taste sooooo gooooooood

Why has no one ever told me about the deliciousness of roasted vegetables??!!

I only found this out very recently.....and boy, oh boy, the number of times I've made it since - making this one of the GREAT discoveries of Year 2012.

Roasting brings out the natural sweetness of the vegetables with a slight hint of toastiness.

This is usually how I'd make roasted vegetables....and it's almost foolproof:

Chop up root vegetables into chunky bitesize (for example - potatoes, sweet potatoes, squash, carrots, onions, turnips etc.)

Chop up "soft" vegetables into chunky bitesize (for exaple, bell peppers, tomatoes, asparagus, broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini etc.)

Set them aside in 2 separate mixing bowls.

To both bowls, add a couple tablespoon (more/less depending on quantity of veg) of olive oil to nicely coat the vegetables.

To both bowls, add a dash of garlic powder, onion powder, Herbs de provence, salt/pepper (if you like it hot, some paprika/curry/chilli powder could be nice too).

To both bowls, add a tiny splash of balsamic vinegar.

Toss the veg till well mixed.

Preheat your oven to 475F.

Line a baking sheet with foil and spread your ROOT VEGETABLES on the sheet and put it into the oven for about 30mins (give the root veg a good stir in between roasting)

Add in the "soft" vegetables together with the root vegs, give them a good stir and roast at the same temperature for another 15mins.  

Remove from oven and start digging into the sweet toasty goodness.

Usually, I like to have a good balance of sweet and not sweet vegetables. For example, carrots, red bell peppers, sweet potatoes, squash, corn are sweet whereas asparagus, green bells, potatoes, zucchini, broccoli, cauliflower aren't sweet. But you can do it whatever way you please.

And depending on how "heavy" you'd like the roasted veg dish to be - as a main meal or small side dish...you can vary the amount of the "heavier" rooted veg like potatoes/squash in the dish. The more potatoes/sweet potatoes/squash there is, the more substantial the dish.

I'd eat the roasted veg on its own or serve as a side dish. Leftover roasted veg can be used in soups (blended or not) and sandwich wraps too.

They are so yummy, good for you, easy to make (even in large quantities) and super versatile as a leftover. I can't sing enough praises of it.