Crazy for Veggies!

I have been a little quiet here on the blog lately, mainly because I've spent the last several weeks taking classes to become a real estate agent. Then there was Christmas "break" which SHOULD be a break but was still full of busyness. Anywho....

Yesterday I took my national and state real estate exams. Thankfully, I passed! Unfortunately, it was the most stressful test I've ever taken! I am usually a great test taker and love the challenge. I studied all afternoon Sunday and Monday morning, followed by completing the chapter reviews, which I did horribly on! That is where the stress ensued. Truth be told, I am still carrying stress in a couple places on my back, even though the test has been over for over 24 hours.

After the test, I went to the grocery store on the way home to pick up a few things that I didn't get to over the weekend. Everywhere I looked, piles of beautiful veggies were calling me. I swear, I got the craziest strongest cravings for all of these vegetables! You'd think I would have wanted a margarita or a really strong vodka drink after the stress that I felt, but no, I wanted KALE! And roasted veggies!

As I have mentioned before, my family still eats meat, so I roasted them two chicken breasts in the oven. I had my own oven rack, though, loaded with piles and piles of veggie goodness.

Look at those colors! Don't they just make you smile?

The caramelization, the golden brown delicious bits and pieces. Sigh.... I think I'm in love.

What's a veggie party without kale? I don't want to find out. So I made a bed of massaged kale salad to serve the amazing roasted veggies on.

 

The bonus about making roasted veggies is that my whole family devours them. Some of the kids prefer one or two veggies over the others but when all is said and done, the pan is empty, and everyone is full of nutrition!

 

So...how about a recipe? Here it is:

 

Roasted Vegetables

 

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a large cookie sheet with your choice of lining (foil, parchment, or spray)

 

Cut your choice of vegetables into bite sized pieces. I used cauliflower, broccoli, onions, red, yellow, and orange bell peppers.

 

Throw them all into a large bowl and toss with a light drizzle of olive oil (appx 1 T) a good splash of balsamic vinegar (again, appx 1 T) some salt and pepper, a little dusting of garlic powder if desired. You see how loose this recipe is? Now just toss everything together until you think the oil, vinegar, and seasonings are evenly distributed. Spread out onto the pan and place in the oven. Check after 15 minutes, toss them around a bit to ensure even browning. I think this batch took about 35 minutes to cook, the same amount of time it took the chicken.

 

For the kale salad, I simply took about 6 large leaves of kale, pulled off the stems, and thinly sliced the leaves. I drizzled about 1 t of olive oil over top and massaged for a minute. I'm getting used to eating it without much of a massage. The smaller you cut it up, the better.

 

On the plate, I put a pile of the kale, a great heap of roasted veggies, a drizzle of some really good syrupy balsamic vinegar (I used the regular kind for roasting), and a side of avocado. This meal ranked up there with my favorites! I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.