Roasted Veggies ala Rebecca

I am blessed to have amazing friends.  But my best friend in the world is Rebecca.  We met in 8th grade at the lunch table.  I was mad at another friend and decided to sit by my brother's best friend.  Rebecca was dating said friend's friend (thank GOD her taste in dates has improved) and liked that I was shorter than she was (but not by much!).  A friendship was born.  It has been over 20 years and we have been there for each other through everything...good times and bad.  She is still my best friend and nothing in the world could change that.  And despite the fact that she isn't a blogger she still agreed to guest blog for me.  Gotta love her.  And the recipe ain't half bad either. ;)

So the other day, I called Amy up and asked her for recipe ideas. This is the standard in our relationship. She cooks, I try to cook. Many many times have I called her up, stood in my kitchen and said, “I have chicken, eggs, flour, Bisquick, some cheese, vanilla, some (hey babe, what are those things?) oh, some bananas, but they don’t really look like bananas but Dan says they are…” You get the idea. I call her, give her a list of crap I have in my house and somehow, I get dinner out of it. She’s all “put the chicken in the bananas and blah blah blah” and I get a good dinner. The funny thing is, I’m actually a decent cook, I just lack her talent, imagination, and inspiration. Not to mention that my kitchen is the size of an anthill, so I hate being in there. But I digress.

In some bizarre twist of fate, by the end of this whole adventure, she asked me to write a guest blog for her.

Anyway, I called her for ideas because I had to bring something dairy-free to a potluck and I don’t know how to cook without butter and cheese.. at least cream. BY the end of the conversation, I knew I was going to do something with all the veggies from our CSA that week (Amy and I share a Share and I had the whole thing this week). I give to you Roasted Vegetables!

I tend to think of myself as someone who needs a recipe to follow. That’s not how this one worked out, it’s more a set of directions.

Supplies:
Cutting board
Good sharp knife
At least three bowls
Roasting pan or baking pan with a lip
Veggies
Salt and pepper
Olive oil
Garlic powder (opt)

Oven to 425-450

Gather all of your vegetables. Everything you have in the house. I had zuccini, carrots, potatoes, green garlic, onions, kohlrabi, broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, and beets.
Chop everything up to about the same size. I made the carrots, potatoes, and beets a bit smaller than everything else because I knew that they take longer to cook.

I used three bowls, one for the cauliflower and kohlrabi (significantly different roasting time than everything else), one for the beets (didn’t want everything to turn purple), one for everything else.

Pour some olive oil over everything, enough to coat everything. Sprinkle with garlic powder. Liberally sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Put everything (except beets, cauliflower and kohlrabi) in the roasting pan, and the beets in something else (another pan). Keep cauliflower/kohlrabi out for now.

Put it in the oven. Check on it after about 30 minutes, stir it up and add the cauliflower and kohlrabi. It’s done when you can easily slide a fork into the carrots and potatoes. Gently stir in the beets when you put it in whatever serving dish you use (they do turn anything they touch purple, but mmmmm they’re good).

If you’re me, make them again as soon as you get more vegetables and maybe even get a “Wow Mom, this is good” muttered at you by your oldest child.

Photo Credit: Allison Kuznia from GoofyMama