The Beatles almost had it right when they sang, “All you need is love”. It’s a good start, but we’d add veggies into the mix. It may not make for a lyrically poetic song, but it does communicate romance if you think about it.
Vegetables care tremendously for your body by providing you with a long list of vitamins and phytonutrients that help prevent a whole host of chronic conditions. Their naturally low-cal/high-fibre make-up also helps with weight loss, aids digestion, promotes a youthful appearance, and just makes you feel darn great!
Not to mention they can be stunning to look at (hello attraction!) and they taste delicious. For the record, we’re not talking about the carrot and celery sticks you’ve been packing in your lunch bags! We can do better than that.
One of the tastiest of healthy snacks is a serving of simple roasted veggies. They’re easy to prepare a lot of, they cook all at once, and then keep in the fridge for a week–making them perfect for grabbing on the fly. With a rainbow of vegetables to choose from, you can be munching on a colourful feast in no time!
It’s silly to call this a recipe really. It’s more of a technique; so master it and you’ll never go hungry again.
Simple Roasted Veggies with Parsley-d Yogurt
Note: Choose vegetables that all have a similar cooking time or cut them into sizes that promote a similar cooking time. This will make your life a heck of a lot easier. For example, for this tray we chose bell peppers, onions, fennel, and baby eggplant.
Simple Roasted Veggies
1. Preheat oven to 425°F and drizzle a little grapeseed oil (or other high smoke point oil) on 2 baking trays. Spread it around until it’s evenly distributed.
2. Cut your vegetables into appropriate sizes to allow them to cook evenly and at that same time. For example, if using this combination of vegetables, cut the bell peppers and baby eggplants in half, a medium onion into sixths (a large into eighths, and so on), and fennel into eighths (trim the tops off first).
3. Place the vegetables cut side down on the tray and space them slightly apart. Try not to have them overlap. This will cause them to steam, rather than roast. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Feel free to add other spices here, as well. Cumin, chili flakes, italian seasoning, or za’atar, etc. are all good choices.
4. Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes. Take them out, flip the veggies, rotate the pans, and bake for another 15-20 minutes, or until tender and slightly charred on the edges.
Parsley-d Yogurt (optional, but why the heck not?!)
1 cup of plain, full-fat organic yogurt
1-2 cloves garlic, finely minced
½ tsp salt, plus more to taste
1-2 Tbsp finely chopped parsley
Optional, freshly-squeezed lemon juice, to taste
In a medium bowl, mix all of the ingredients together until combined. Taste and adjust seasoning. Feel free to play around with the ratios here until it suits your taste preferences. For example, if it’s too salty, add more yogurt. If it needs some acid, add a squeeze of lemon juice.
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