Roasted Winter Vegetables Recipe | Nudge Your Veggies

Simple, easy, fresh. Over the years I've learned the best dishes I make and want to eat on a regular basis involve those 3 factors. Roasted vegetables are one of my favorite things to do since carmelizing them in a bit of healthy oil brings out the flavor of your food while still retaining the health benefits.

Your grocery store carries all types of fresh veggies that are great for roasting however you always get the best flavor from vegetables that are in season and grown locally instead of shipped from across the world. Wintertime in the U.S. means that alot of vegetables aren't being grown nearby since the cold weather keeps that from happening so it can be challenging to find the freshest foods.

Often overlooked and set aside for holiday dishes, casseroles, or pies, winter vegetables are awesome when roasted in the oven. They are also very inexpensive and perfect for warming you up on the coldest winter days. In addition to flavor, these ground dwellers such as butternut squash, acorn squash, parsnips, carrots,and & turnips are packed with nutrition.

Health Benefits Of Butternut Squash

Butternut squash is high in anti-oxidents and fiber making it a heart healthy veggie. It provides potassium for bone health and B6 which boosts your immune system. The high folate content in butternut squash makes it even more heart-healthy and protects against birth defects such as spina bifita.

Whole Living reports further on this powerhouse food:

Squash's tangerine hue indicates butternut's most noteworthy health perk. The color signals an abundance of powerhouse nutrients known as carotenoids, shown to protect against heart disease. In particular, the gourd boasts very high levels of beta-carotene (which your body automatically converts to vitamin A), identified as a deterrent against breast cancer and age-related macular degeneration, as well as a supporter of healthy lung development in fetuses and newborns. What's more, with only a 1-cup serving, you get nearly half the recommended daily dose of antioxidant-rich vitamin C.

Certainly butternut squash along with it's other winter veggie friends are something we need to incorporate more of in our diet. By tossing these power foods with a few ingredients and roasting them, they are certainly simple, easy, and fresh.

Roasted Winter Vegetables Recipe

Ingredients

4 medium carrots, peeled and chopped

4 medium parsnips, peeled and chopped

4 Tbls olive oil

4 tsp chopped fresh thyme leaves

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

2 lb butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cut into 1 inch chunks

Directions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Toss carrots and parsnips in 2 Tbls olive oil, 2 tsp thyme and half the salt and pepper. Bake for 15 minutes. Toss the butternut squash with the remaining seasoning and add to carrots and parsnips, mixing to incorporate. Bake for 30 more minutes. Turn over with a spatula halfway through.

Serves 6

Photo by Michelle Kimbrell

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