Roasted Rainbow Veggies, Plus 5 Quick Recipes For Using Them.
This is the kind of batch cooking that I love.
You do ONE thing and end up with MANY meal options. It saves me from eating the same old thing day in and day out, while still getting masses of phytonutrients.
Please keep in mind that this is a guide, use whatever veggies you have in the house!
Also, if you’re like “Gwen, I know how to roast some veggies!” skip the ingredients and instructions and head right to the RECIPE IDEAS below.
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Ingredients
1 - 2 Large Onions, roughly chopped.
1 Butternut Squash, or any squash, peeled and chopped into bite sized chunks.
1 Sweet Potato, orange or white, peeled and chopped into bite sized chunks.
1 Cauliflower Head, cut into bite sized florets. I like to include the non woody part of the stem and clean parts of the outer leaves as well. It’s not necessary, but they are edible and yummy roasted.
1 Broccoli Bunch, cut into florets. I like to use the non woody part of the stem from the broccoli as well, but it’s not necessary.
3 or 4 Beets, peeled and chopped into bite sized chunks.
Brussels Sprouts… I didn’t measure! I would say this was about 2 cups of chopped brussels. Lol. Just use however much you want!
6 or 8 Carrots, peeled and chopped into bite sized chunks.
1 Full Garlic Bulb, cut in half, place this on the roasting pan last with the cut side up, and drizzle with olive oil. (Once roasted the garlic will pop right out of the skin pocket, and is AMAZING added to all the things. Especially my homemade mayo). Keep an eye on the garlic, you don’t want to burn it! Mine is usually tender and delicious after about 30 minutes at 350 degrees.
A good amount of Olive Oil
Fresh herbs if you have some. I like sage or rosemary or thyme myself. All mixed together, or one, or none is good too!
Salt and Pepper
This is just what I had in my fridge! But try using parsnips, potatoes, peppers of all colours, green beans, sliced cabbage of any colour, asparagus, tomatoes, zucchini, or mushrooms… and many more I am sure.
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Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 or 375. I have started slow and low roasting because it helps preserve the nutritional values of food as well as avoids that overly crisped bit that happens when cooked on high. Yes I know that crispy part can be yummy, but by avoiding it you’re actually helping your mitochondria work better.
Mitochondria takes energy from food and turns it into energy our body can use, among other awesome things. It’s a thing in our body that makes ENERGY! That’s something we all need buckets of. (For my scientific friends, I know, that’s an incredibly basic explanation of mitochondria — but that’s how I roll.)
Cool food to body science right?
Prepare all your veggies as suggested in the list above, then lay them out on baking sheets with similarly dense ingredients. You can see what I mean in the photo above, but when roasting these I did swap the brussels sprouts with the sweet potatoes because those brussels are more tender and will cook faster than the potatoes. I also started another pan that took overflow, as well as the garlic and onions. You don’t want to crowd things too much.
Generously drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt, pepper, and herbs of your choice.
Place trays in the oven and set a timer for 20 minutes.
After the timer goes off have a look to see if anything needs a quick stir about and then get them back in the oven.
The tray with the brussels, broccoli, and cauliflower will need APPROXIMATELY 10 - 15 or so more minutes. The timing will depend on size of veggies, and temperature you’re roasting at.
The more dense ingredients will take about 45 + minutes in total.
Keep an eye and roast until things are tender and delicious looking.
Now let’s get down to the business of how to eat these batch cooked sheets of rainbow goodness!
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Recipe Ideas!
My goal here is to share some REALLY simple meal options that you can whip up in a few minutes. Nothing fancy or particularly special, but still DELICIOUS.
Roasted Cauliflower Soup, With Garlic And Onions
(You can do this same recipe but use the broccoli WITH the cauliflower, or with brussels and a sweet potato. It’s delicious as well.)
Use the whole roasted cauliflower, about half the roasted garlic, and a whole roasted onion (probably close to a cup) and about 4 cups of stock of your choice. Feel free to add more or less depending on how thick you want your soup.
Put all the ingredients in a pot and gently warm until a slow simmer is happening. Stir and let cook together for about 15-20 minutes. This is a rough timeline, just do whatever time you have available. Everything is already cooked after all!
Cool slightly and carefully pour or scoop ingredients into a blender, working in batches if you need! BE CAREFUL AS THE SOUP IS HOT. Seriously, don’t burn yourself! If you have time you can let the soup cool completely, or just be smart here. Don’t overload your blender, make sure steam can escape out the top, and go slow. Once you’ve blended your soup add back to a pot, and very gently warm it.
You can also use an immersion blender with less hassle, but less of a smooth texture. This is all about taste and texture preferences! You do you my friend.
Once your soup is your desired smoothness, be sure to keep the heat low, or a carefully watched med-low. Thick soup makes quite a mess if it gets bubbling too zestily. It splashes all over the dang place!
Add in salt and pepper to taste and if you would like some finely chopped herbs; like a bit of rosemary or sage.
TOPPING OPTIONS
If you’re plant based try adding toasted pumpkin seeds and walnuts.
If you’re AIP or whatever, top with crispy prosciutto, bacon, or I had some leftover pork roast that I crisped in a pan and sprinkled over top.
BOTH are delicious
TIP! If you’re making this soup from still hot roasted veggies, feel free to add them directly to the blender with about 2 cups of broth and blend first! Then add to soup pot with the rest of the broth and gently warm.
Roasted Carrot And Squash Soup, With Coconut and Ginger.
Using the carrots and squash from your pan, add to a good size pot that has been gently warming with a good splash of olive oil, and about a TBSP of finely chopped fresh ginger and maybe tsp of fresh or dried turmeric if you have and like it.
Let these flavours gently melt together over medium low heat for about 5 or so minutes. Then add a can of full fat coconut milk and about 4 cups of broth of your choice.
Bring to a gentle simmer for about 20 minutes and follow the same blending techniques as suggested for the cauliflower soup. If you want your soup smoooooooth, use the blender. If you want it with a bit more texture, use the immersion blender.
After soup is smoothed to your desired texture, add in salt and pepper to your taste.
TIP! If you’re making this soup from still hot roasted veggies, feel free to add them directly to the blender with about 2 cups of broth and blend first! Then add to soup pot with the gently warmed ginger and turmeric and add the rest of the broth and warm and the flavours have had a chance to mingle together.
TOPPING IDEAS
Serve this with toasted nuts and seeds (I prefer pumpkin and walnuts) and a drizzle of cashew cream or a dollop of plain unsweetened coconut yogurt (Yoggu brand locally is AMAZING) and some freshly chopped cilantro.
Roasted Veggie Salad
This is a classic around here, and a great way to get a mountain of phytonutrients (the rainbow) into your body. I like to make these salads right in the bowl so I can customize them how I want them.
I add:
A good handful of greens or my already made foundation salad, a variety of roasted veggies. Beets, brussels, peppers, carrots, and cauliflower are a great combo. Then maybe a 1/4 of a chopped apple, some avocado, hummus, or toasted (or untoasted) nuts and seeds. Hemp hearts are delicious on here and I don’t bother to toast those.
If you would like to add some meat protein this is delicious with shredded chicken, leftover ANYTHING, steak sliced up, an egg or 2, or a can of salmon or tuna.
It’s also great with hummus or black beans for plant based protein.
Often the nuts and seeds and mountain of veggies is enough for me, specially if I serve it with some avocado.
My preferred salad dressing for this is a simple, yet amazing, balsamic dressing. The slight sweetness in the balsamic brings out the earthy flavours of the roasted veggies and really just makes it all sing.
Use what you have in the fridge, and know that these are all just suggestions. Something to get you inspired to try some new ideas out.
Here’s the link to my simple salad dressing recipes for those of you who are just getting into making dressing.
https://www.goodtograteful.com/gwens-kitchen/top-5-simple-salad-dressing-recipes-we-use-on-the-regular
Roasted Veggies As A Side
This is the most obvious. After you’ve roasted all those glorious veggies it would be a shame to skip eating them hot out of the oven.
We love them with a drizzle of balsamic vinegar and/or take a few cloves of that roasted garlic and pop it into my homemade mayo recipe for an incredible dip to go with your mountain of veggies.
Serve with any protein you enjoy and a simple salad.
(Side note; my kids love these with my homemade mayo as a dip).
Roasted Veggies As A Snack
I’m not kidding around!
Serve a plate of roasted veggies with some good hummus and you are winning!
Include some pomegranate seeds and a little splash of good quality balsamic vinegar to dip the veggies in and it’s starting to look pretty dang fancy my friend.
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Final Thoughts
These are just some simple ideas for ways that ALL of us can get a more diverse amount of plants into us. Each plant comes with a shocking amount of goodness that (generally*) support our health.
For example, did you know that red things like beets are anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory fighters? They also support cell, gastrointestinal, heart, hormone, and liver health!
Green things support brain, skin, heart, liver, and hormone health.
Each one brings its own something special, so it’s a great practice to add in as many and as much diversity as we can!
Often I can fall into eating the same things over and over again, but this way of batch cooking really helps me stay open and try new things all week long.
Let me know how it goes for you, and if you find this helpful please share on your social media, or email some friends to help us all get more rainbows into our guts!
*Some plants can be hard on some people, and that important to pay attention to. For example, I need to be quite careful with the amount of nightshades I eat; otherwise I get bad heartburn and bloating. These are things to pay attention to after we eat things so we start to understand what causes inflammation in our body.
The less inflammation we have the better we feel!
Gut Happy my friends!
Gwen
Simple roasted veggie salad with organic chicken breast and an avocado.
