Cranberry Roasted Winter Vegetables

Cranberry Roasted Winter Vegetables

 

My 250th Y'all Come Eat recipe!

 

This recipe comes from the December 2012 Southern Living and sounded wonderful.

We eat quite a few vegetables around here, and the boys eat roasted vegetables really well.

 

I thought the addition of the cranberries would be a nice touch.

 

The article recommends pairing it with their Pork Roast with Sweet Onion-Pumpkin Seed Relish, which sounds yummy.

 

You trim, peel, and slice carrots and turnips and place them on one baking sheet.

 

I am the world's worst and trying to cut vegetables all the same size. 

The recipe says 1 inch pieces of carrots and turnips. 

Mine are all over the place, but it worked just fine.

 

Toss them with half of the minced fresh rosemary and olive oil in the recipe. 

Season with salt & pepper.

 

Cook at 400* for 30 minutes.

 

blurry photo - yuck

 

You do the same for your halved Brussels sprouts in another baking sheet.  Since the Brussels sprouts roast more quickly, you cook them in separate dishes.

 

Cook the Brussels sprouts for 20 minutes at the same temperature.

 

When the carrots and turnips have been roasting for 30 minutes, take the pan out of the oven, give them a little stir, and add fresh (or thawed frozen) cranberries to the baking sheet.

 

And roast the vegetables for another 5-10 minutes.  The cranberries will pop open.

 

Toss all of your vegetables together on a large platter and drizzle with molasses.

I didn't have molasses so used brown rice syrup.  I think you could also use maple syrup.

 

We liked the vegetables and the cranberries were a nice touch, but tart!

 

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Enjoy!

 

Rice and Lentils

Rice and Lentils

 

When I took cooking classes with Sandy earlier this year, she made this dish for us to eat with our yummy herb-inspired dishes.  It is one of those dishes that she just tossed together and it was so good.  I hadn't "just tossed it together" yet for my family, but had been meaning to.

 

I always have cooked grains in the fridge, to make school night dinners that much easier to pull together.  We really like lentils, so this was a no-brainer.

 

When I asked Sandy for her "recipe", she had to think about what she did that so inspired me.

She shared that she used brown Basmati rice, green lentils, fresh rosemary, garlic powder, onion powder, and celery salt.  Seemed easy enough for me!

I pulled out brown Basmati from the fridge and warmed it up just a little in the microwave.
Then I cooked lentils on the stove according to the package directions. 
Instead of plain water, I used vegetable broth and a bay leaf to flavor the lentils as they cooked.
Lentils cook much more quickly than rice.

 

 

Once tender, I combined the rice, lentils (minus the bay leaf), chopped fresh rosemary, onion powder, garlic powder, and celery salt.

 

This dish has a great mild flavor, and is perfect as a main dish, or as a side dish with meat and vegetables.

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Enjoy!

 

 

Hot Purple Cabbage

Hot Purple Cabbage

 

So I made up the name of this recipe.

It comes from my friend Jan, who makes it for holiday meals all the time.

It's originally from Roger's German side of the family.

 

Roger and Jan

Jan brought it to our Oktoberfest Wine Club party a couple of months ago and David and I really liked it.  I'm always up for a new veggie recipe.

 

Jan assured me it was really easy, so I pestered her until she emailed me the recipe :)

 

She said that she puts all the ingredients together in a large pot.

 

I had a really large head of cabbage, so I dealt with the other ingredients first, then added the cabbage.

 

I placed the apple cider vinegar, salt, sugar, and water in first and let the sugar dissolve over medium heat.



 

Then I added in my purple cabbage.  When Jan made this recipe, I think she used red cabbage.  Or, there may not be a difference.  My outcome just looked a lot purple-r than Jan's!  Regardless, it worked just fine.

 

Mix it up, cover, and let it cook for an hour on medium-low heat.  Stir often.

This is after just 10 minutes.

Serve piping hot, even if you have to microwave it again after transferring to a serving bowl.

 

I love the flavors and will make this again soon I'm sure!

 

Thomas had 3 helpings the night I made it, and Brennan had leftovers the next day with his after-school snack. 

 

(Results not typical)

 

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Guten Appetit!

 

Cinnamon Apples

Cinnamon Apples

 

My friend Kami, who makes the best whole-foods dishes for her kids, sent me this recipe from Taste of Home for a sweet treat.  It's a quick dish that can be made ahead of time and pulled out after dinner.

 

There are only 4 ingredients, all of which I have on hand, except for the red hot candies.

I couldn't find them anywhere!  Do they only sell red hots at Valentine's Day? 

Well, honestly, I only looked in 3 stores, but still.

 

So I went with hot cinnamon Jolly Ranchers, and I think they worked just as well.

 

 

I boiled water, sugar, and Jolly Ranchers in a saucepan until the candies fully dissolved.

 

Then I carefully added in my peeled & quartered apples, and let them cook until they were tender - about 15 minutes.  You could go longer, as long as the apples stay intact.

 

Here they are after 10 minutes. 

 

When they're tender, you place the apples in a serving dish and pour the syrup over the top.

Let them cool for a couple of minutes, then cover them and refrigerate for at least 3 hours.

 

I wish I had a plated photo of this dish, but they disappeared so quickly! 

They were good and cinnamony, and a nice after dinner treat.

 

Double click to print as a 5x7 recipe card.

 

Enjoy!

 

Cumin and Lime Roasted Sweet Potatoes

Cumin and Lime Roasted Sweet Potatoes

 

This is a great, easy recipe from the September 2012 Vegetarian Times. 

I'll certainly make this recipe again and again.

 

I rarely eat sweet potatoes when they're not sweet - boiled and mashed with butter, cinnamon, and brown sugar.  Delicious!  But I was curious about this savory version.

 

I was delighted to find that these are delicious, and even mildly sweet, roasted with cumin, paprika, and topped with lime and cilantro.  They're really, really good!

 

I started by peeling and cubing my potatoes while the oven was pre-heating to 425*.

I tossed them with 1 tsp of olive oil and placed them on a parchment paper lined baking sheet.

Then I sprinkled them with smoked paprika, cumin, and the juice of half a lime.

 

The potatoes roasted for 45 minutes and were plenty tender, so I transferred them to a platter and sprinkled them with the other half of lime, and topped them with chopped fresh cilantro.

 

Yummy!

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Enjoy!

Five Ingredient Pasta Toss

Five Ingredient Pasta Toss

 

At the end of a very busy weekend, I decided to throw this dish together so we could all watch a family movie together.  So easy, and great with a side vegetable, or by itself as we chose to eat it tonight!

 

I cooked bowtie pasta al dente.  While it was cooking I added olive oil and crushed garlic to my serving bowl.

 

Then I tossed in rinsed & drained pinto beans, and chopped fresh basil.

The original recipe calls for white beans, but I chose pinto and they worked well.

 

I drained the pasta and tossed it together right away with the remaining ingredients, and served.

 

The original recipe also calls for a can of fire-roasted diced tomatoes, with the juice.

Because my kids don't like tomatoes, I skipped this ingredient.

 

David recommends doubling up on the beans.

I am reminding myself to season the pasta water because the pasta needed a little extra salt.

The boys think there was too much garlic, so I cut it back to 2 cloves in the recipe below.

 

Perfect accompaniment to Elf tonight!

 

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Buon Appetito!