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.

Lazy Lasagne Recipe

Who has time to make proper lasagne? Or rather, who has the patience to make proper lasagne? Not us. So we deconstructed the typical vegetarian lasagne and made it into a baked pasta casserole – no layering, no broken noodles, and no frustration. Just mix and bake.

You could add more vegetables to the spinach mixture in this lasagne, but personally, we think the simpler this recipe stays, the better. If you want more veggies in your meal, try a side dish: maybe a matchstick carrot salad or vegetarian Caesar salad (the Caesar recipe is Mike’s, and it’s pretty much the most delicious recipe ever).

You’ll need a large casserole dish for this recipe, or two smaller ones. If you’re cooking for one or two, try freezing half the recipe. We have lightweight Corningware dishes with freezer-friendly lids for this purpose.

Gooey cheese tops off vegetarian lazy lasagne

Lazy Lasagne Recipe

Makes 6 servings

Preparation + cooking time: 1 hour

Ingredients:

• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 medium cooking onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
• 1 (454 gram) box whole wheat pasta shapes, like penne
• 1 (24 ounce) can plain pasta sauce
• ½ Tbsp. sweet paprika (substitute hot if sweet paprika is not available; use only a few pinches instead)
• 1 tsp. oregano
• 1 tsp. basil
• Salt to taste
• 1 tsp. black pepper
• ½ tub ricotta cheese
• 1 (10 ounce) box frozen spinach
• 1 ½ cups grated mozzarella cheese

Directions:

Put on a large pot of water for the pasta before starting the sauce. When it boils, cook pasta according to package directions. Cook until slightly firm (al dente).

For the sauce:

1. Heat a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Add the olive oil.
2. When the oil is hot, add the chopped onions and stir well.
3. Sauté the onions for a few minutes, adding more olive oil if the onions start to burn. Add the minced garlic.
4. Sauté until the onions are translucent and soft. Add the oregano, basil, sweet paprika (use a few pinches of regular paprika if sweet paprika is not available).
5. Add the tomato sauce.
6. Bring the sauce to a boil; add pepper and add salt to taste.
7. Defrost the spinach in the microwave (if frozen) and add to the sauce.
8. Heat through, then remove from heat.
9. Gently pour the sauce into the casserole dish (or split between two dishes, if that’s what you’re doing). Add the pasta (or half the pasta) and stir. Then add the ricotta cheese (or half the ricotta), breaking it up into very small chunks with a fork as you go.
10. Top with shredded mozzarella cheese.
11. Bake at 350 degrees Celsius for 30 minutes, or until top is just started to brown.