Roasted Vegetables Recipe

Red onions, broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots ready to roast

Roasted vegetables, in my opinion, should be one of those recipes everyone should know how to cook. On lazy nights, it’s a meal with some fresh bread. For company, add roasted caramelized tempeh and couscous.

Roasting veggies is a great way to clean out your fridge and pantry, too. Roast up whatever vegetables you have, and like. Throw in whole heads of garlic if you’re not planning to use them. It all comes together with some olive oil and a simple spice blend. Serve with whatever grains you have – couscous, brown rice, and quinoa are all good choices.

I should mention how flexible this recipe is. It’s:

• Vegan (vegetarian)
• Low-carb
• Dressy enough for company
• A great side dish for high-protein meats or veggie "meats"

We like to cook as many vegetables as fit in the pan, ramping up the spices and olive oil as necessary. Leftovers are scrumptious the next day.

Spicy Pepper Roasted Vegetables Recipe

Makes 4 generous servings

Preparation time: 20 minutes

Cooking time: 1 hour

Uncooked vegetables with olive oil and spicy pepper medley

Ingredients:

• About ¼ cup olive oil (you can eyeball the olive oil)
• About 4 Tbsp. favourite spice blend (homemade or store-bought – I like Clubhouse’s Spicy Pepper Medley)
• 1-2 tsp. dried rosemary (optional)
• 3 small potatoes, scrubbed
• 1 large sweet potato, scrubbed
• 1 yellow cooking onion, sliced into wedges
• 1 red onion, sliced into wedges
• 3 cloves elephant garlic, thickly sliced OR 1 head garlic, separated into cloves and peeled
• 10 Brussels sprouts, halved OR 1/3 head cabbage, sliced into wedges
• 2 cups cauliflower florets

Roasted vegetables

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 450°F.
2. Pour a thin layer of olive oil on the bottom of the pan. Dump in about a third of the cut vegetables. Drizzle generously with olive oil. Sprinkle with about a Tablespoon of spice blend, and rosemary, if using. Stir.
   Repeat until no more vegetables are left. Stir gently, as your pan is likely to be overflowing. Don’t worry – the vegetables cook down and take up less space as they do.
3. Roast in the oven at 450°F for 1 hour, stirring every 20 minutes.
4. Serve hot.

Homemade Vegetable Stock

Last week I opened my cupboard only to be plunked in the head with a bottle of yeast. This week, I’m working on clearing out the winter pantry staples to make room for spring! What better place to start with comfort food than smooth, veggie-rich broth made on your very own stovetop?

Mike is the master of all things slow-cooked; I don’t have the patience for stuff like this. But I get to come home and reap the rewards of his work!

Why make your own vegetable stock?

• It’s cheap
• It uses up the veggies rotting in your fridge
• It’s free from MSG (check your stock cubes or powder - most do contain it)
• It’s delicious
• It’s as low in salt as you want it to be

When we cook, we throw the vegetable scraps into a plastic container in the freezer. Then, when the container is full of potato peels, carrot stubs, and onion ends, we make stock. Then we turn that stock into delicious vegetable soup – generally minestrone, lentil, or barley.

Cooking vegetable soup stock

Homemade Vegetarian Vegetable Stock Recipe

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Cooking time: 1 hour

Ingredients:

• Onion ends
• Potato peelings
• Carrot stubs and peelings
• Celery tops
• Garlic
• Leftover tomatoes (optional)
• Going-bad mushrooms (optional)
• Other vegetables, as desired
• Herbs (if desired, depending on what you’ll use the stock for)
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:

1. Chop the vegetables into pieces of uniform size, if not already done.
2. Optional step – sauté the onions, garlic, celery, and carrots in a touch of olive oil until golden brown.
3. Put the vegetables into a large soup pot.
4. Add water in a ratio of about 1 ½ parts water to 1 part vegetables (for example, if using 2 cups vegetables, add 3 cups water)
5. Heat over high until it reaches a boil.
6. Reduce heat and simmer for about an hour.
7. Remove from heat.
8. Strain stock through a fine sieve or colander. Discard vegetables and use stock for soup.

Cooking vegetable stock

Straining the vegetable stock

Looking for homemade soup recipes?

These are some of our favourites, which also happen to be vegan:

• Winter Tomato Barley Soup 
• Curried Butternut Squash Soup 
• Split Pea Soup

Cooked veggies left over from stock-making