Roasted Vegetables

This is a staple in our house lately. These veggies are so amazing. If you've never roasted vegetables, then you are in for a treat. Not only are they so simple to make, but the roasting process brings out incredible flavor.

Ingredients

1/4 - 1/2 c. olive oil (or even more if you are roasting a lot of veggies)

Freshly cracked black pepper

Sea salt

A variety of the following vegetables in the quantities you'd like (the quantities that I usually do are in parentheses - remember, I like to have these for leftovers, so I make enough in one roasting for at least two meals):

Roma tomatoes, thickly sliced (6) (Roma tomatoes hold up really well to the roasting process, but you can use other tomatoes if you have those on hand)

Artichoke hearts (6)

Kalamata olives, pitted and halved (two generous handfuls)


Whole button mushrooms or thickly sliced portabellas


Peeled garlic cloves (I just use a whole head, but I love me some gahlic)

Red pepper, deseeded and sliced (1)

Green pepper, deseeded and sliced (1)

Red onion, quartered (1)

Mayan sweet onion, quartered (2)

Directions



Take a large jelly roll pan (or any shallow baking sheet or baking dish, the only important thing is that it must have sides) and drizzle a general amount of olive oil on it.

Place all of your veggies (except tomatoes if you are using those) on top of the oil. Drizzle another generous portion of oil on top of those. Then salt and pepper pretty generously (I never measure, just kind of sprinkle, so it's hard for me to give measurements). You can then use a basting brush if you're shy about getting your hands dirty, but I like to just use my fingers to make sure the salt, pepper, and oil gets all over the vegetables.

Then, place the pan in the oven for 15 minutes.

At 15 minutes, remove the vegetables from the oven, use a spatula or tongs to flip them and add the tomatoes if roasting them. I also will occasionally throw some fresh basil leaves on top at this point, especially if I know I'm using the veggies for spaghetti. Add another drizzle of olive oil and put back into the oven for another 10 - 15 minutes.

Vegetables are done when they are soft and tender. They will start to get that blackened/roasted look, with a char on the edges. If you don't like the char, you can take foil and cover the veggies, which will help prevent that.

Some uses for these vegetables:

1) Added to curries, soups, spaghetti sauces, etc. (recipes coming for each of these).

2) Put between two slices of gluten-free bread with a spread of hummus.

3) On a bed of mixed greens with a sprinkle of basalmic vinegar and sunflower seeds over them (this is my favorite lunch, I could eat it every day).

4) Tossed with gluten-free pasta and a little bit more olive oil. Sprinkle with nutritional yeast.

5) Take a huge leaf of butter or romaine lettuce, add brown rice and roasted veggies for a great wrap (this one is also great to take on the go).

How do you use roasted vegetables? What others do you roast that I haven't listed here?