Roasting or grilling vegetables is one of the best ways to fill up on low-calorie, high-fiber foods that are rich in vitamins and minerals.  Vegetables are complex carbohydrates and aid in providing the body with energy.  Carbohydrates have gotten a very bad rap during the last few years even though they are one of our very important macronutrients.

If you’ve read my blog for very long, or follow me on Instagram, you know that asparagus is my favorite veggie, so it seemed like the perfect, yet simplest recipe for me to start my new Healthy Recipes series with.

If you pull down my Weight Management tab, you’ll see that Healthy Recipes is one of the sub-tabs, and today’s post is the first healthy recipe I’ll be sharing with you.  Please keep in mind that I’m not a registered dietitian, nutritionist, or even a food blogger; but I am a certified weight management consultant, and love to share ways to live a healthy lifestyle.

Years ago a friend introduced me to the wonderful world of roasting vegetables in the oven, and I’ve made adaptations and changes along the way.  For all of my roasted vegetables, I start with the same three basic ingredients, plus the veggie de jour.

Ingredients:

  • Fresh perky asparagus – smaller stems are more tender
  • Pure olive oil (often called grilling olive oil – withstands higher temperatures)
  • Coarse salt
  • Freshly ground black pepper

RoastedAsparagusIngredients
 

To aid in cleanup, I line a cookie sheet (with shallow sides) with aluminum foil.  I then arrange the cleaned and trimmed asparagus (I cut about 1-2 inches off the bottom of each stalk) single-file on the baking sheet.

I pour a little bit of olive oil (about a tablespoon) in my hands and rub it on the stalks of asparagus making sure I cover them well.  Next, I sprinkle a couple of pinches of salt, and liberally grind pepper across the asparagus.

I put the asparagus into a preheated 425° oven and roast for approximately ten minutes.  Larger stalks might take a minute or two longer.  Asparagus is done when it is still crisp.  Roasting too long will result in limp over-cooked stalks.

AsparagusReadyToRoast
 

Serve fresh from the oven while hot.  Of course when I serve my roasted asparagus it on the asparagus platter that my mom gave me, it makes it taste even better!

RoastedAsparagusPoster
 

In case you want to hang onto this simple, yet delicious recipe, I’ve made a recipe card for you to print out and file with your other favorite recipes. Enjoy!

 

[yumprint-recipe id=’1′] 

 

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  • Questions:
  • What’s your favorite veggie?
  • What’s your favorite healthy recipe?
  • How many servings of vegetables do you eat daily?