Low & Slow #2: Roasted Vegetables

 Oven Roasted Veggies

  I began our Low, Slow and So Worth It series by compiling recipes and techniques.   First, came the braises and stews.  Then I began to ponder veggies recipes.   Last I realized that desserts shouldn't get overlooked either!

I decided on a cutting off point to define what low was..and slow was.
This recipe - well, it didn't really fit.
  You see, there's no way to claim that 400 is low. 
And, at 40 minutes, I wasn't gonna say is was slow, either. 

That was...
Till a friend explained that if you don't cook everyday... waiting 40 minutes for veggies is INDEED slow.
Fair enough.
So this is a (not so) low and (yet, apparently) slow method of making scrumptious veggies.   How scrumptious?  Well, my hubby gobbled 'em up and asked what they were called.   He figured something that tasty would have a fancy name.   Nope.  Just lots of love.

See that long slice in the photo that looks a bit like jicima? It's broccoli stem.  Each week my pal Sergio used to make salads next to where I made the homemade pizza dough.  And, as a "chef's treat" he would save the broccoli stem to share with us.  We'd eat it raw and it was darn tasty.  A bit like if  broccoli and cauliflower had a love child.  He asked me what to call it and I came up with "Broccoli Heart."  Since he handed it out with love to us each time, I felt it was appropriate.  Good guy, Sergio.
  
This was inspired by my pal Lisa at The Cutting Edge of Ordinary and Ina Garten.

Over Roasted Vegetables
From Dana at Cooking at Cafe D

Ingredients:
Carrots, peeled and rough chopped into large pieces
Potatoes, cut into chunks smaller than the carrots
Onions, peeled and quartered
Whole garlic cloves, peeled
Broccoli, florets and stem, julienned
Olive oil
Kosher salt and pepper
Rosemary or your favorites herbs

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Toss veggies (except the broccoli) in olive oil, salt and pepper and spread them out on a sheet pan.  Add rosemary or other herbs, as desired. Place in the pre-heated oven and set the timer for 15 minutes.  Meanwhile, cut the broccoli into florets.  Peel then slice the broccoli stem into sticks.

When the veggies have roasted for 15 minutes, remove them from the oven, add the broccoli and carefully toss them together.  Return the pan to the oven and roast for another 25 minutes or so.  Check periodically since oven temperatures vary.  When the potatoes are fork tender, remove the veggies.  Move the vegetables to a platter so they will not overcook on the hot pan.

What is your favorite roasted vegetable?
Sharing with Butter Believer
 

Braised Beef Tacos - Tasty Leftovers

Braised Beef Tacos

We eat a lot of tacos.
If there is a handful of leftover protein - it becomes a taco.

In this case, it was brisket from our Cider Braised Beef.  Warmed corn tortillas, diced onion, queso fresco, and some fresh cilantro. With a nice squirt of lime on top.

Can't see the cilantro?   Well, we didn't have any this go-round.

I'm not one of those who hate cilantro and find it all soapy tasting.
Are you?

Can I tell you a secret?   We don't always have queso fresco on hand - though nowadays you can get it at the local supermarket so that makes it pretty easy to have around.  Sometimes I'll use leftover feta.  It gives a similar texture and crumbliness (yeah I'm just making up words...) and it adds a bit more salt.  If it's a crumbly white cheese there's a chance it might end up in a taco round here.

In other news, hubby and I found a great Mexican restaurant spitting distance from us.  A pal gave us a Restaurant.com gift card (thanks Shawn!) and we lucked out.  Between the two of us we tried enchiladas, sopes, tacos, and flautas.  The chorizo, al pastor and chicken rocked.  And, it was really inexpensive. Yum.

What's new in your neck of the woods?

Dumpster Dive, Not Quite Dead Yet, and a Sneak Preview!

Hello, sweet chair. (Please look past the cord, the couch cover riding up, and the dust...)
 
Hubby and I found a little dumpster dived chair on the way home  from seeing John Denver in concert.  In a fashion.

We had a great time, btw.
The fact that the highlighter is deceased didn't sway me  from snatching up the tickets last November as a Valentine's surprise.

I mean, come on!   There's NO WAY my honey would have guessed...  "I bet you bought us John Denver concert tickets!"

Sure, his first reaction was, "He's dead."  (Mine, was, too.)
Then he realized that seeing JD in concert was indeed an unfulfilled item on his bucket list.
And, once we got past the whole dead thing, it was a great time.  His estate gave permission for some of his original band members to tour with a video of mashed up live concert appearances.

(The strangest thing ended NOT being that John wasn't there.  For me, it was that the amazing horn player, piano player, and guitarists were on the stage playing live with the 20 something versions of themselves playing on the big screen behind 'em.)

I fun time was had by all.  Most.  Well, not John.   Er.  Anyways....

So, I decided that the dumpster dived chair would make a handy holding spot for my current reading list.  I'm in the middle of a few good books.    See that one on top?   I'm THRILLED to be reading an advanced copy of  Shauna Niequist's soon to be released book "Bread & Wine."  I'm loving it.More on that soon!




So, share.
What are you reading?
Or, what's your most recent dumpster dive?
Or, what's the latest concert you've attended where the artist was deceased?  LOL!

Thoughtful Thursday: Love

Thoughtful Thursday

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone.

May your day be filled with warmth and kindness.

Today's question:

Which food carries with it memories or feelings of love for you?

Click the blue bar and tell us!

Walking Across the Room...and Frozen Dinners

Well, it's been a month.

Seems longer.  Seems like yesterday. 

Anyway.

I've finally tossed together a dinner that wasn't a frozen pizza, a cold sandwich, or something purchased from Jimmy John's.  LOL.

Oh, I guess I did stick a chicken in the oven to roast last week.  But, that was a salt / pepper / done...sort of thing.

So...

It was a good day filled with fellowship and love - ironically from strangers I had just met.  There was a heart connect.

You know...
The kind where you are laughing and being yourself with total strangers and seem to finish each others' sentences even though you just met?

No?
Well, me neither...till today.

I don't think that it was a coincidence that I found the courage to go meet for coffee with a bunch of strangers. It was 45 minutes away and the whole way I just kept dreading walking into the room.  I literally prayed on the drive asking God that if there was one person who I was supposed to even share a nicety with - let her walk across the room to meet me.  Because even though I really need it, right now, conversation was the last thing in the world I wanted to make.  (Besides maybe dinner.)

Two hours later I was surrounded by a group of women laughing....and I didn't want to leave to make the 45 minute drive home.

So, I got home.  Journaled like my life depended on it (pun intended) and decided that if I could muster the courage walk into a room full of strangers I could certainly stick a casserole in the oven.

No idea how it will taste.
But, seems I'm cooking again.

What is something you've had to muster the courage to do...

And been rewarded?