Oven Roasted Veggies

As I was sitting on my couch working on my first pot of coffee I was trying to figure out what to make my husband and I for lunch. I was searching my brain (and Pinterest) for something that made minimal dishes, only made food for 2, not a whole family, and was pretty healthy to make up for the dominoes we ate last night. I don't know why but that seems to be a pretty tall order. It is shockingly difficult to find recipes that fit all those requirements! I can find healthy... for a whole family. Or minimal dishes... but its not that healthy. Or, best of all, it is all three of those but I don't have the ingredients! I then remember my crisper drawers full of veggies and get flashbacks of a simple meal that my mom used to make all the time, roasted veggies! All it needs is a sheet pan, a knife, and a cutting board (you may choose to omit the cutting board at the risk of your counters.)

    I love roasted vegetables and so does my husband and fresh veggies are so cheap and easy to find in the summer. I don't know how I didn't think of it in the first place! The best part is I can make as much or little as I want! Also, while its in the oven, instead of doing dishes, I have time to work on other projects around my apartment.

    I start off by searching my crisper drawers and pulling out brussels sprouts and cauliflower. I also make sure to maintain a healthy potato supply in my pantry because they go with everything. Some other veggies that would work well with this recipe are asparagus, green beans, carrots, sweet potatoes, or something else similar, I think you get the idea. 

    Next, I chop them up into bite sized pieces. I had lots of varying sizes because I like having smaller crispy bits and some larger softer ones but most people recommend that all the pieces should be about the same size so they cook more evenly. I then line the baking sheet with parchment paper so that I have one less dish to wash at the end and I spread out the veggies pretty evenly. 

    After that I drizzle olive oil straight onto the pan and sprinkle whatever spices feel right. I end up sprinkling my magic mix (I call it this because this is what I put on pretty much everything but in varying amounts) which consists of thyme, cilantro, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Then I use clean hands to roll everything around in order to make sure everything is pretty well coated.

   At this point my oven should have reached 425 degrees and I pop in the pan for 20-35 minutes. I give such a large span of time because everyone likes their veggies at varying degrees of crispy vs mushy. At 20 min my veggies were pretty well cooked but not quite crispy. At 30 min things were decently crispy, the outer leaves of the brussels sprouts were starting to curl and get dark and the edges of the cauliflower and potatoes were starting to darken. At this point I kept them in for an extra 5 min because I like my veggies very well roasted.

    I haven't been grocery shopping in a while so my options of what to serve my veggies with were pretty limited. I ended up deciding on frying a couple of eggs (the veggies were VERY good covered in egg yolk.) The meal turned out to be delicious and filling while only requiring 3-4 dishes! On top of it, at the end of the meal, my husband confessed to me that he hates cauliflower but enjoyed how I made it. To back it up his plate was clean!

    If you are wanting the full recipe on a recipe card leave a comment and I will learn how to attach those. Otherwise I'll work my way there in future posts. '

    Thank you for reading!