Roasted Veggies Save Your Weeknight Dinner

Salads and leafy greens are awesome, but they're hard to make beforehand as they get wilted and soggy when stored in the fridge. This is where roasted veggies come into play. 

Last week, I must have eaten roasted veggies every day. I roasted a big batch at the end of the week and ate them throughout the next week.

Just like so many other people, I'm a huge fan of roasting sweet potatos and yams, some of the best carb sources out there. But they are not the only veggies that you can through in the oven. Many other veggies, including root veggies, are perfect for roasting. Try carrots, beets, parsnips, turnips… Just play around with the seasoning and see what you like best.

How to Roast Your Veggies

Roasting a batch of veggies in advance seriously saves you a ton of time. Sure, washing and cutting them takes you 10-15 minutes, but that time goes quickly when you listen to a podcast or an audio book at the same time! For the rest of the time, while your food is in the oven, do whatever you like.

Here's how to make perfect roast veggies:

Buy Your Veggies

• Organic and local is always better, but usually also pricier. Keep your eyes open for discounts and buy veggies that are cheaper.
• If you can't buy organic, that's okay. Eating non-organic veggies is better than not eating veggies at all.
• When choosing root veggies, like potatos, turnips and parsnips, make sure that they're nice and firm and don't have any soft spots.
• If possible, choose root veggies that are not too large. Smaller ones have more flavor!
• Pre-packaged broccoli gets spoiled by turn yellow or brown pretty quickly. Another sure sign of spoiling is bad smell, but you can't tell that before the bag is open. So, check your broccoli closely to see if it's nice and green like it should be.
• Look for firm and clean cauliflower with no dark brown or gray speckles on the surface of florets. If you find a few, you can cut them out, but if there are a lot of them, don't buy it.

Clean and Cut Your Veggies

• Wash your veggies. Especially brussels sprouts sometimes have some dirt underneath the smaller leaves. Some packaged veggies are already pre-washed, which makes your life even easier.
• I'm not a germophobic, so I roast my root veggies without peeling them. I simply give them a good scrub and they're good to go.
• If your broccoli or cauliflower are already broken into florets and packaged, check the ends. If they're dirty or brown, remove them.
• Cut your sweet potatos or yams lengthwise into wedges. If they're very long, cut them also across. I prefer thicker wedges, but if you like thinner slices, go ahead and do that.
• Remove stems from brussels sprouts and cut the sprouts in half. If they're small though, there's no need to half them.

Get Your Veggies Ready for the Oven

• After you have cut your veggies into wedges or separated them into florets, put them in a big mixing bowl (each type separately).
• Pour a bit of olive oil on them. A good amount is about 1 tbsp olive oil for 1/2 pound of brussels sprouts, cauliflower or broccoli. 1 tbsp is enough for about 3-4 large sweet potatos or 10-12 smaller white potatos.
• Sweet potatos go really well with coconut oil as well, because they both have subtle sweet flavor.
• Season them. Sky is the limit! Some of my favorite combinations: Brussels sprouts and broccoli with salt, pepper and freshly minced garlic; Cauliflower with salt, pepper and turmeric; White potatos with salt, pepper, Italian herbs and dill.
• Try sweet potatos also with coconut oil and cinnamon!
• Preheat your oven to 375F and roast them!
• Roasting time depends on how thick your slices or wedges are or how big the florets are. But in general, root veggies take about 30 minutes, brussels sprouts and broccoli about 20 minutes.

Eat Your Veggies 

• My favorite way of eating roasted veggies is to simply take a little bit of everything I made and throw them into a bowl, then add a few fried eggs on top. I often do that for breakfast.
• For lunch or dinner, I definitely add another protein source, like chicken, ground beef, fish etc.
• You can also add them to soups and salads.
• Eat them as snacks, cold or warm.

Healthy Eating Is Easy

Roasting a batch of veggies is a really simple way to make sure that you eat healthy throughout the week. If you switch up seasoning, they never get bored. You can also buy or make your own hummus, guacamole and different dips and dressings to keep your roasted veggies interesting. And I like my ketchup with white potato home fries 🙂

Roasted veggies are a sure staple in my fridge, and if you care about having healthy meals available any time, try to keep them around too!