Lemon cheesy roasted vegetables

I served my lemon tamari chickpeas from yesterday's recipe with lemon cheesy roasted veggies for dinner, so I thought I'd share that recipe with you too - even though its so simple, it hardly needs a recipe.

Often times however, people just roast veggies in oil but I love the addition of lemon juice and zest.

Ingredients:
Variety of vegetables cut into small pieces, with tougher veg cut smaller than soft veg - enough for a large baking sheet/pan.
2 tbs olive oil
3 tbs lemon juice
Grated lemon zest
1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
Approx 1/4 cup nutritional yeast (heavy sprinkle - but optional)

Preheat oven to 415F. Mix the first 5 ingredients together on a large baking sheet, lined with a non-stick liner (see yesterday's post for my favorite).  Sprinkle heavily with nutritional yeast and gently mix.  Roast in the oven for 20 minutes then toss them around, adding another sprinkle of nutritional yeast, and roast for an additional 10-20 minutes.

Serve hot or cold.


The veggies I used were what was on hand: blue potatoes (I love blue potatoes!), red onion, multi-colored carrots, Brussels sprouts, and asparagus, but you can chose your favorites.  Think of a rainbow as you select however, trying to get lots of different colors. You can see from the photos that I got orange, yellow, green, and blue/purple in there, so plenty of color just on one dish.

If you aren't familiar with nutritional yeast, it brings a really cheesy flavor to dishes - so is perfect for those who are dairy free or vegan. It is also a great source of B vitamins so for those who are gluten free and not eating many grains, or anyone who isn't getting many B vitamins, adding nutritional yeast gives a real boost to your B vitamin levels.

Lemon tamari chickpeas

These are my new favorite snack - lemon tamari chickpeas.  I find them so satisfying and filling.  They are a wonderful source of fiber - something that many of our diets don't have enough of.  This may be different from what you'd normally have for a snack, but it is definitely worth trying.  I make at least double the recipe as they are too tasty to just make a few. They aren't crispy but a good texture.

1 can organic chickpea - drained and rinsed
1 tbs lemon juice
1 tbs low salt gluten free tamari sauce
1/2 tbs olive oil
1/2 tbs sunchoke syrup or yacon syrup (optional)

Preheat oven to 400F.  Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl.  Place in one layer on a baking sheet, preferably lined with a non-stick liner - see below*. You don't need the sun choke or yacon syrup, but it is a great source of prebiotics and yummy. As you pour it on the baking sheet, there seems to be quite a bit of liquid but don't worry, the chickpeas soak it up as they roast. Roast for 25 minutes, stirring once half way through.  The chickpeas will be nicely golden and the liquid absorbed.

Serve them warm or cold as an appetizer/snack or as a protein source for a dish, such as sprinkling on a salad or with roasted veggies.

I'm traveling up to Canada this week, so these are going to be my snack for the plane journey….as long as I don't eat them beforehand!!!

*For my non-stick liner, I use bake-o-glide which comes from England. Its a reusable sheet, you cut it to the size of your dishes and it makes washing up easy but also browns food nicely, even if you aren't using much oil.

The sheet is thinner than a silpat - and you can get the roll on Amazon.  It lasts for ages……a year or so and I cook a lot! I use it on everything, so give it a try.

Let me know if you like the chickpeas.  Kids love them too.