A Vegetarian Dish A Month – June 2024: Oven-Roasted Veggies
Despite my recent blog posts about vegan/vegetarian cooking, I am not a chef. I don’t really try to push the boundaries of culinary tastes, flavors, and textures. For the most part, I want to make food that is simple, tasty, and healthy. So in my quest to find more things to make that are vegetarian and vegan, I found this recipe and this dish fits the bill perfectly: a breeze to make, tastes amazing, and is as healthy as the veggies you put in it!
June 2024: Oven-Roasted Veggies
My interest in a simple roasted veggies dish was piqued when I saw a series of videos online of a guy who makes all kinds of dishes that start with just veggies on a baking sheet. Varies combinations of greens, cruciferous broccolis and cauliflowers, root veggies like sweet potatos and yams, shoot veggies like asparagus and celery, and of course plenty of onions and garlic, all just chopped up and thrown onto a baking sheet to then be used in different ways! Some he would throw into a blender and make into a hearty soup, others he would just season and serve over rice, and still others he would put between bread to make a healthy sandwich!
I knew with something as versatile and simple as that, I had to try it.
I decided to go super simple: roasted veggies over rice.
The Recipe
There are a million recipes out there for roasting vegetables, but I used this one: https://www.wellplated.com/oven-roasted-vegetables/.
The instructions are short:
- Chop the veggies (this is the hardest part!) into sizes according to how fast they will cook. Veggies that take longer need to be cut into smaller pieces, while ones that cook fast need to be cut into big chunks. For example, broccoli can be big since it has so much space for the hot air to get all around them, but potatoes are dense so they need to be cut smaller. Bell peppers have lots of moisture content so they start to boil off quick so need to be cut pretty big!
- Toss with plenty of oil, or if you’re lazy like me, just pour lots over the veggies on the baking sheet. Don’t skimp, otherwise you’re going to get a shriveled up, dry mess!
- Season with whatever! Salt and pepper, garlic salt, pesto, parmesan cheese… Be creative! For my first time I just went simple with salt and pepper.
- Preheat to 400 degrees F and cook for 25-30 minutes, maybe giving them a good flip halfway through.
- Serve over rice, throw some sauce on top (I used a vegetarian garlic sauce).
This dish is so simple and there are so many ways you can modify and play around with different flavors and textures, and with the sheer number of veggies you can use, you’ll never ever get bored! Actually, after I made this once, it was so easy I ended up making it another 3 times this month! It’s become a go-to of mine.
The Verdict
What else can I say? This dish is super healthy and easy – just be sure you’re adding plenty of flavor with sauces or seasonings. If I feel like I want to add a little more protein, I fry up some tofu in sesame oil to add to the mix. If you like simple and easy, this can be your new healthy go-to for quick dinners!
