Roasted Root Vegetables with Brussels Sprouts

My husband declared in late October that he felt he needed to lose a little weight and try to eat healthier.  According to the USDA, he was, in fact considered obese.  And I have to say that in 6 months, he's lost 30 pounds just by changing his diet alone.


Now I try to make most of our supper meals as healthy as possible, but I will admit I'm not afraid of healthy fats from dairy and animals.  I'm also not worried about healthy unprocessed oils such as olive, grape seed, and coconut.  However, due to the nature of his job, my husband is on his own for breakfast and lunch, and he was not eating very well at all for either of those meals each day.

The first thing we did is cut all carbs for several weeks to get him off the carb addiction, and I cut back drastically on our dairy fat intake.  We bulked up on vegetables and proteins instead.  In fact, our diet resembled a Paleo diet, although we didn't follow it to the letter.  As time went on, we added back whole grain carbs while I experimented with new vegetables and new ways to cook vegetables we already liked.

One of the things we discovered was that we really love the taste of roasted vegetables, so I've been doing that a lot the last 6 months.  The other thing we discovered is that Brussels Sprouts, a vegetable I hadn't eaten in 21 years and swore I'd never eat again, are pretty darn good when they aren't boiled and slimy.  I've been having fun mixing different vegetables together to roast, and really love combining potatoes and Brussels sprouts.

The following is more method than recipe because mixing up veggies, seasonings, and flavors is part of the fun with roasting vegetables.  Just keep in mind the softer vegetables like Brussels sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower, and asparagus have a much shorter cooking time than the root vegetables like carrots, beets, potatoes and onions.

In my picture above, I have new red potatoes, purple gem potatoes, a golden beet, and Brussels sprouts.  Spring onions or whole garlic cloves would have been lovely as well.  My favorite seasoning with these veggies is a zesty seasoning blend from Kroger with orange zest, tarragon, oregano, black pepper, garlic, fennel, and basil that is similar to Mrs. Dash garlic and herb blend.

Roasted Root Vegetables with Brussels Sprouts

4-5 new potatoes per person
1 beet per person
5-4 Brussels Sprouts per person
1 tablespoon olive oil per person
dried herbs or seasonings to taste
salt to taste

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Peel beets and wash potatoes.  Cut all root vegetables into bite sized pieces.  Place in a bowl and drizzle in half the olive oil.  Season as desired.  Stir to coat potatoes and beets evenly with oil.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or aluminum foil.  Pour potatoes and beets on cookie sheet in a single layer.  Bake for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, cut Brussels sprouts in half or quarters - basically into bite sized pieces.  Place in the same bowl the potatoes and beets were in.  Season as desired and stir to coat evenly with oil.  Add more oil if needed.

After 20 minutes, spread Brussels sprouts onto baking sheet with potatoes and beets.  Bake for another 10 minutes or until all vegetables are tender and lightly colored in places.