Roasted Veggies

So last night was what I call a standby meal. Something I can make pretty quickly without a lot of lead in time or planning necessary. We had the standard steak, baked potatoes and roasted veggies. I have to comment on roasted vegetables though. Roasting anything but meat used to be an unknown to me. I never thought of cooking our favorite veggies in the oven, I was always into steaming. I have to say that as far as asparagus goes I will never go back to steaming. A light drizzle of olive oil, a sprinkle of salt, pepper and garlic powder throw them on my Pampered Chef stoneware sheet pan pop in the oven and voila tasty, relatively healthy veggies. As long as you don't over cook them they are pretty fool proof. Sure, steaming is better for you but my kids much prefer the roasted version. Ultimately if you take it easy on the olive oil they really aren't that bad for you. I find the best veggies in this method are: peppers, asparagus, zucchini, squash, onion, carrots and potatoes. Whenever I make an antipasta for an Italian meal I roast some sort of veggie and serve it room temperature on the platter. Another great dish is roasting the veggies then throwing them on pasta or rice as a vegetarian entree. The key; once my kids fell in love with the roasted flavor they were more willing to try any veggie prepared that way. That makes for easier planning on my part and more balanced meals for them.

Tonight we have hot dogs on the docket. I know, I know, yawn. I think most parents make hot dogs pretty often. I was going to do kialbasa but Josh isn't eating dinner here so I just didn't see the point. Plus it is activity night around here (basketball to be exact) so we have to be finished eating by 5:30 pm. The one high point, homeade macaroni and cheese. It is so chilly and rainy today mac n' cheese will really hit the spot. It is pre-prepped from last night because I made a large batch for a squadron event so it is a pop in the oven kind of deal. The final decision to be made, what veggie will make it to the table? I can tell you, it will probably be roasted!