Eat your (Roasted) Vegetables!!!

My sister-in-law recently asked me for advice on cooking vegetables for kids.

If you've picked up anything about me from reading this blog, you'll know that I have a husband. Although he sometimes acts like a kid, he's not one.

So...I don't really know anything about getting kids to eat their vegetables. But I can tell you, that when I do research for different recipes, I occasionally come across comments like, "My children devoured this!" or "I'll never cook this any other way--I hated the mushy vegetables my parents made as a child," or "My kids beg for this." I'm assuming there's some credit in the testimony of others.

Most of these astounding testimonies of vegetable-craving children have revolved around one cooking technique: roasting. I'll admit it, I am a huge advocate for roasting vegetables! Roasting is basically tossing the vegetables in olive oil, salt and pepper, and cooking vegetables in the oven at a high temperature (usually around 425 degrees) until they are slightly crispy. Depending on the vegetable, they will caramelize slightly in a way that brings out the natural sweetness.

Here are some of the vegetables that we have tried (and the extra herbs or spices that I toss in with the salt and pepper):

Broccoli (lemon juice or lemon pepper)
Cabbage (nutmeg)
Brussels Sprouts
Carrots and Parsnips (dill)
Sweet Potato Wedges
New Potato Wedges (rosemary)
Butternut Squash (rosemary)
Asparagus
Green Beans (herbes de provence)

Some vegetables that are on the docket: Cauliflower, Acorn Squash, Bell Peppers

Fall is one of the best times for roasting; most of the fall vegetables are roast-worthy. I'm not going to give you recipes for all of these vegetables (although the method stays the same, the cooking time varies)*. But I am going to encourage you to try this method**. See what your family likes. Our family likes the broccoli stems roasted, but we prefer the florets steamed in our traditional manner. My husband begs for roasted brussels sprouts all year long. I could roast butternut squash every night of the week and be happy. What does your family like? Try it and see.

Roasted Butternut Squash

1 whole butternut squash (3-4 pounds)
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary

Peel and seed the squash and cut into 1/2 inch cubes. Put the squash in a roasting pan and toss with the olive oil, salt, pepper and rosemary.

Roast at 400 degrees for 30 minutes, stirring every ten minutes.

Sprinkle with extra kosher salt and pepper to taste.

*Ina Garten is the queen of roasting. If you are looking for good recipes for roasting other vegetables, check out her recipes on Food Network. You can also just do a google search; there are tons of other bloggers out there eager to share their roasted vegetable recipes!

**Try roasting several times with the same vegetables, and don't give up! I recently read in Southern Living magazine that "it takes kids seven tries to change their picky ways."

Date Night

My husband and I spend a good amount of time together. We ride to the gym together, ride to class together, study together, and very occasionally, we watch a TV show on hulu together. But if we aren't careful, even with all of this togetherness, we could become side-by-side strangers.

We make preventative efforts each day. My husband really loves to follow me around the kitchen, clobbering me with hugs and kisses while I am trying to cook. We eat most of our meals together and catch up on each other's days and goings on. We sit down for a family devotional each night before we go to bed. Even when we protect our precious time together, we sometimes get to a point where we "miss" each other. That's when we plan a date night, a time of undistracted togetherness, a time of cultivating the sweetness in our marriage.

That's what we're doing tonight.

That's why I made my Friday night meal on Thursday night.

Red Beans and Rice

Adapted from Emeril Lagasse via Food Network

1 pound dried red beans, rinsed and sorted over
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 cup chopped ham
1 1/2 cups chopped yellow onions
3/4 cup chopped celery
3/4 cup chopped green bell peppers
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Pinch cayenne, plus more to taste
1 teaspoon Tony Chachere’s Creole seasoning, plus more to taste
3 bay leaves
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
2 teaspoons fresh thyme
1/2 pound smoked sausage, split in quarters lengthwise and cut into 1-inch pieces
1 pound smoked ham hocks
3 tablespoons chopped garlic
9 cups of water
4 cups of cooked rice

Place the beans in a large bowl or pot and cover with water by 2 inches. Bring to a boil for two minutes, then remove from heat, cover and let sit for an hour. Drain and set aside.

In a large pot, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the ham and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Add the onions, celery and bell peppers to the oil in the pot. Season with the salt, pepper, cayenne, and Tony’s, and cook, stirring, until the vegetables are soft, about 4 minutes. Add the bay leaves, parsley, thyme, sausage, and ham hocks, and cook, stirring, to brown the sausage and ham hocks, about 4 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add the beans and water, stir well, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the beans are tender and starting to thicken, about 2 hours. (Should the beans become too thick and dry, add more water, about 1/4 cup at a time.)

Remove from the heat and with the back of a heavy spoon, mash about 1/4 of the beans against the side of the pot. Continue to cook until the beans are tender and creamy, 15 to 20 minutes. Remove from the heat and remove the bay leaves. Season with more cayenne and Tony’s to taste. Serve over the hot cooked rice.

*This recipe looked a bit daunting at first, but there is very little hands-on time. Go ahead and have the chopped vegetables, ham, sausage and spices ready, because the sauté time is relatively short, leaving little time to run around the kitchen looking for ingredients.

**Also, this recipe will make your house smell INCREDIBLE. It makes a good amount, and is good to freeze (without the rice) for one of those nights when you have just don't have time to cook. Or you can defrost it for a stay-at-home, no cooking obligation date night.

A+

How would you like to receive that grade? I know that I would, and I did! I'll admit, the grade is not on a paper, assignment, or anything even remotely school oriented. I cannot say that it doesn't count, though. It was an encouragement to me, but I hope even more that it means that our friends who visited us this weekend were edified by our fellowship (or at least well-fed). As we said our goodbyes, they said that I had earned an A+, in hospitality!

After working diligently to stay on top of our studies, we freshened up our apartment and welcomed in our friends on Saturday. We watched a little football (of course, it's a fall Saturday, isn't it?) and then we showed them a bit of our town. We went to a local dive for lunch, and then took the scenic route home, before a walk through the neighborhood, dinner at home, and just a little bit more football before bedtime. Our three guests happily squeezed into our living room on the sofa and an air-mattress.




On Sunday we walked to church, and after the morning worship service, we meandered home through our neighborhood's annual fall street fair, enjoying a glorious fall day. All in all, it was an A+ weekend.


For such a short time with our friends, I didn't want to spend all of my time in the kitchen. While I was whipping up Beef Stroganoff and roasted broccoli for dinner on Saturday night, my friend whipped up these wonderful biscuits. They are so easy, and so good!

Sour Cream Biscuits

2 cups self-rising flour
2 sticks butter, melted
1 cup sour cream
2 teaspoons Herbes de Provence (or other herbs, optional)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Mix the flour and butter. Add the sour cream and herbs and blend well. Spoon batter into greased muffin cups, filling 12 muffin cups half-way full, or 24 muffin cups for smaller muffins. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes.