Roasted Vegetables.

OK, first of all, let's get one thing straight.

I AM A MEAT EATER.


I like my steak, my chicken, my bacon. Land-dwelling animal? Most likely I will eat it. Admittedly, not a fan of turkey unless it's Thanksgiving.  Yeah, I like my starchy products, too.  Well, I'm just a fan of food in general.  If it tastes good, I will like it.

That being said, I should note that I don't eat as much vegetables and fruits as I probably should. The food pyramid is wrong.  You know, starches on the bottom, oil/fat at the top, everything else kind of in the middle. Nowadays, people are pushing for more veggies and fruits, less of meat, cheese, and bread. In my case, my food pyramid looks like this:

Get the point?

A lot of my friends are becoming vegetarian. I can't do it. Quite simply, I love steak too much.  A nice prime rib with au jus and horseradish sauce? Mmmm. Filet mignon, medium-rare with sautéed onions and mushrooms and garlic in a red wine reduction? Delicious!

But I digress.

Instead, today I will talk about my attempt at roasting vegetables in an effort to actually increase my vegetable intake.  Actually, it will be a how-to guide to roasting vegetables, my way. (i.e. Lots of pictures!)

Ingredients:

• Yellow Squash - 3x (about 6 inches long each)
• Asparagus - Bunch (the skinny kind is what I used)
• Red Onion - 1x (medium to large size)
• Extra virgin olive oil - EVOO!!
• Salt
• Pepper
• Minced Garlic

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400˚ F.

On a roasting pan, put foil down. In my case, I used a cookie sheet with 1 strip of foil.  

Snap the butt-ends of the asparagus off. You can use your fingers or you can use a knife. (Use only half the asparagus in the bunch.)












Cut the squash down the center, then down the center, then dice into 1cm (~1/2 inch) chunks.

Cut ends off of onion and peel first layer off.













Cut in half, then cut across, then cut at an angle so each segment is about 1-2 cm (~1/2 to 1 inch) wide at the center. (Use only half)

Place all veggies in colander and rinse.


In large bowl, pour some EVOO in (~2 tbsp), about 2 pinches of salt, and grind up that pepper (I like a lot of pepper).

Toss with your fingers/hand the squash and onions to coat all the pieces equally.


Pour veggies onto foil.

Put aspragus on other side.


Drizzle EVOO over asparagus, sprinkle lightly with salt, grind the pepper, and add a dollop or 2 of minced garlic.


Roll the asparagus around on the foil to fully coat with garlic and such.



Put in oven for 10 minutes.

Clean up kitchen.

Realize that you have no hot water running.



Go to the basement and check your water heater.

Call Dad up to find out that he's not home.

HANDWAVE FREAK OUTERY

Call water heater company and have them walk you through turning unit off, then on and seeing if the gas lights up again.

Corral the cats out of the water closet (haha, WC).

Realize that more than 10 minutes have passed and run back upstairs.

Check on veggies and pull out of oven.

Voila! Food is done!!









Serve yourself a nice tall glass of chocolate milk and enjoy the veggies!

Be happy to know that as homeowner, you have averted just one small crisis. (Also explains why I had to take a semi-cold shower this morning. Sigh. -.- )

For my part, the veggies turned out edible and kind of good. The asparagus was slightly overcooked. I will prolly just boil them next time.  But the squash and onions were good.

For dessert, I had a bowl of chocolate pudding and some very tart strawberries.

Note to future self: Eat more veggies.
Note to near-future self: Put the heat on...