Easy Roasted Vegetables

With summer in full spring, I love to hit the various farmers markets and take advantage of all the wonderful, locally grown vegetables. My two favorite markets are Chestnut Square, which is located in McKinney’s historic district and Georgia’s Farmer’s Market, near Downtown Plano.

During my swing through these great places yesterday, I picked up summer squash, snap beans, tomatoes, cucumbers among other delish goodies. I usually pick up enough for a couple of meals as I like to eat veggies as fresh as possible. The difference in taste is incredible.

Roasting is the quickest and most flavorful way to cook fresh veggies. Prep time is a mere five or six minutes – however long it takes for you to slice a squash. I use a cake pan and load it with four or five different vegetables. I try to make sure that there is at least one green vegetable, one yellow and one orange or red. I place about two servings of each in pan, mounding them in separate piles. I then brush them liberally with olive oil. Cover with foil and cook at 400 degrees for about 40 minutes and you have an amazing, healthy side dish or meal.

In this dish, I roasted broccoli, small yellow, orange and red peppers, summer squash, fresh snap beans and grape tomatoes. Earlier, I’d mixed olive oil with minced garlic and let that sit for a couple of hours. When I was ready to cook, I poured the mixture over the veggies.

In this version, I used Brussels sprouts, summer squash, fresh snap beans and carrots. I brushed the veggies with olive oil and then seasoned with Weber’s garlic and herb seasoning.

Eating healthy never tasted so good!