ROASTED VEGGIES

This is the perfect cold-weather vegetable dish--hearty, warm, and delicious. Roasting veggies brings out their full flavors & natural sweetness. You can easily add variety by using different vegetables and/or spices.
Some vegetables, such as carrots and potatoes, will take longer to cook. You can either pre-roast those veggies for 20 mins (if you do this, reserve a bit of the oil & spices to coat the veggies added later), or remove some of the veggies as they are done to your liking.

4-6 carrots, peeled and sliced to desired thickness (I like them in large chunks, but they will take about an hour to cook this way. You may want to pre-cook them a bit.)
1 red onion, cut into 8 pieces
1 stalk celery, sliced about 1/4" thick
1 red pepper, seeded & cut into 1" pieces
1 yellow pepper, seeded & cut into 1" pieces
4-6 Yukon Gold or new potatoes, halved
2 zucchini, sliced about 1/2" thick
8 oz mushrooms, whole or sliced
4 cloves garlic, minced or sliced thin
1 tbls olive oil
olive oil cooking spray
spices, to taste:
dried basil, salt, pepper, dried rosemary
(I use approximately 1-2 tsp basil, 1/2 tsp rosemary, 1/4 tsp salt, and 1/2 tsp pepper.)

Serves 8-10

Preheat oven to 400˚.
Wash & dry veggies. (Make certain that veggies are dry, or they will not brown properly.) In very large bowl, combine olive oil and spices. Break cut onion apart into single layers with hands. Add all veggies to bowl, and toss gently but thoroughly with hands or 2 large spoons. Spray large pan, such as a jelly-roll pan or a large, shallow casserole dish, with cooking spray. Spread veggies in pan in a single layer. Roast, uncovered, for about 25 minutes, then gently toss and/or turn veggies over in pan. Continue roasting, checking & gently tossing veggies every 10-15 minutes until nicely browned around some of the edges. Do not overcook, but veggies should pierce easily with a fork when done. If veggies seem to be drying out before they are done, you can spritz them with a bit more cooking spray, broth, or even apple juice. Total cooking time is usually 50-60 minutes.

Notes:
Other spices to try:
oregano, thyme, Italian seasoning, lemon pepper, marjoram

Other veggies to try:
sweet potatoes, cauliflower, cobbed corn, green pepper, green beans, asparagus.

When in a pinch for time, I've even micro-cooked the harder veggies, covered, with 1 tsp water until they just begin to soften (about 3 minutes). Then drain well, blot dry, and proceed with the recipe, adding oil & spices & roasting until done, about 30 minutes.
You can also increase oven temp to 425˚ to help speed cooking time.

Calories: Approximately 150 per serving