It’s Thanksgiving week, and you can’t think of Thanksgiving without thinking about food! Perfectly browned turkey, creamy mashed potatoes, candied sweet potatoes, buttery rolls…and my grandmothers tangy vinegar cole slaw! I’m ready to spend a whole day cozy and warm in the kitchen with my family, sipping a glass of wine (or two!) and stuffing my belly full.

The perfect compliment to the beginning of the holiday season, is anything roasted until lightly-crisp in the oven. Mmmmm, good! This weekend I got a hankering for some brussels sprouts. I had a steamable bag of brussles in the fridge, about a quarter of a bag of baby carrots, and an unopened bunch of asparagus. Perfect for roasting!

For the first batch of roasted veggies, I paired the brussles sprouts and carrots together. I popped the Brussels sprouts in the microwave, in their steamable bag, for three minutes–just long enough to lightly steam them and soften them a bit. I then dumped them onto a cutting board and cut each brussels sprout in half lengthwise.

I set the oven to 400 degrees, then sprayed a cookie sheet with olive oil spray. I spread the brussels sprout halves evenly on the sheet, then distributed the rest of the bag of baby carrots among them. I sprayed the veggies with some more olive oil spray, then sprinkled with salt and pepper.

To roast: pop cookie sheet in the oven for 10 minutes, then turn the oven down to 350 degrees, sprinkle some minced garlic on top of the veggies, and roast for an additional 10 minutes.

The roasted brussles and carrots turned out perfectly! They were just starting to brown on the edges, but were still a little soft in the middle from being lightly steamed before going into the oven. Some diced potatoes would have also gone wonderfully with this combination, or even some sweet potatoes or parsnips!

To roast the asparagus, I used the exact same method, except I didn’t steam the spears at all prior to roasting. Asparagus has a pretty good water content on its own, so it roasts well without needing to be steamed or softened beforehand.

I trimmed the hard ends from the asparagus, sprayed the same cookie sheet with olive oil spray, then spread the spears out on the sheet evenly. I sprayed them with some more olive oil spray, then sprinkled with salt and pepper.

Just like the brussels, I roasted the asparagus at 400 degrees for 10 minutes, turned the oven down to 350, sprinkled some minced garlic on top of the asparagus, then roasted for an additional 10 minutes.

Really…is there anything more beautiful than boldly colored, freshly cooked vegetables?! Just looking at them makes my mouth water! If you weren’t ready for Thanksgiving before…I bet you are now!

Gobble gobble, my friends…enjoy your friends, family, and lots of sweet and savory treats!