BARBECUE ROASTED VEGGIES

After a long holiday season of eating cookies, baking pies, and drinking too much Champagne, I usually need to spend the first few months of the year trying to ramp up my vegetable content. This typically means a lot of salads, but in the dead of winter, salads aren’t always so appealing. So finding ways to cook vegetables into something that is comforting and cold weather friendly is always on my list of things to do more of.

I love vegetables, almost all of them, but after roasting them, it’s suddenly become much harder to eat them any other way. Roasting does something magical to them that transform from bland to spectacular. And since eating enough veggies is always a problem even for veggie lovers like myself, this is a plus.

One other thing I’ve found that steps up my roasted veggie game is seasoning. I’ve tried a number of different vegetable mixes along with a number of seasonings, and this one here is probably one of my favorites. Cauliflower, red peppers, jalapenos, and sweet potatoes are a unique and delicious combination that gets an upgrade with the Los Muertos Barbecue seasoning I got from Ava Jane’s Kitchen. This mix is slightly spicy, but also smoky and a little sweet. This spice mix, a drizzling of avocado oil, and some high heat turns out vegetables that are worthy of much more than a side dish.

Eat these with whatever you want — roasted meats, pan seared chicken, or even add some beans and rice for a vegetarian friendly meal. But make a double batch, because I guarantee after one bite, you’ll wish you had more.