Roasted Root Veggies

After all the richness of the holiday foods, I needed something lighter! This is an old winter standby for me.

A lot of this is done by eye, which makes putting this into a recipe somewhat of a challenge. Basically what you're looking for is equal parts of the larger veggies cut in to similar-sized bits.

Another way you can handle the garlic, aside from the medium mince in the recipe below, would be to cut the cloves in half or leave them whole. Just add more cloves if you go this route. Remember, the finer the chop, the more garlic flavor that will come out.

Roasted Root Veggies

Ingredients:

• 1-2 large carrots


• 1-2 large parsnips


• 1 large fennel bulb with the fennel leaves removed and reserved


• 1-2 red onions


• 1-4 red potatoes


• 1-3 cloves of garlic


• Herbs de Provance to taste


• Kosher Salt and Fresh Ground Pepper to taste (but, don't be shy)


• One teaspoon, finely chopped fennel leaves from the fennel bulb (optional)


• Olive Oil and Vermouth

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 400


2. Peel and chop all veggies into 1/2 to 1-inch cubes (everything should be the same size, but remember that the larger the cubes, the longer the cook time, except the garlic, which you should do a medium mince. Chop the potatoes first so they can soak while you prepare the rest of the veggies. Leave the skins on if desired (just wash them first, mkay?). For the fennel, chop the top off and only use the bulb


3. Drain the potatoes and combine all the veggies, including the garlic, in a bowl.


4. Drizzle enough olive oil and vermouth to coat everything, using more oil than vermouth. Add all seasonings.


5. Cover and allow to sit on the counter for 5-10 minutes.


6. After a quick toss, pour out the veggies onto a foil-lined cookie sheet and bake for 20-50 minutes (depends on veggie size and your oven.). Root veggies can take a while, so be patient. Turn veggies occasionally.

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Cheesy Potato Shallot Soup

Cream, cheese, potatoes and bacon; there is nothing wrong with this. Unless you're a lactose intolerant, bacon-hating low carber, of course. Or vegan. Then, there's just more for the rest of us. So, party on you lactose intolerant, bacon-hating low carbers and vegans!

Prep time is a little long if you're peeling and chopping your own taters, but it's worth it. But, you can always get a bag of Simply Potatoes if you want to speed the process. Cook time is about a half-hour.

The only trick to this soup is stirring in the cheese. In a normal cheese sauce/ broth situation, you'd use a whisk to incorporate the cheese. Here, the potatoes would get in the way. I used a slotted spoon and the folding method and the cheese blended beautifully.

Cheese Potato Shallot Soup

Ingredients:

• 3 strips thick-sliced bacon, cut into cubes
• 2 shallots, diced
• 4 russet potatoes, chopped into 1/4 inch cubes and soaked
• 3 cups heavy cream
• 2 cups grated cheddar cheese
• 1-2 cups chicken stock
• 1-2 teaspoons Worcestershire Sauce
• sprinkle Italian seasoning
• pinch dry mustard
• 1-2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• Kosher Salt and Ground Black Pepper to taste

Method:

1. Cook bacon in saucepan until crispy. Remove from pan and reserve for topping. Leave rendered fat in pan.
2. Lightly saute shallots in bacon drippings and a little salt and pepper for 2-3 minutes until slightly clear. Add garlic and cook for one more minute.
3. Drain potatoes and add to Shallot/ Garlic mix in pan. Add several large pinches of salt, 1-2 more grinds of pepper, the dry mustard, the Italian seasoning and the stock. Stir, cover and simmer for 15 minutes.
4. Add the cream, Worcestershire, and bring to scalded temp (steaming without bubbles). Slowly add the cheese a pinch at a time. Gently fold to combine the cheese, not adding any more cheese until the previous addition is no longer visible.
5. Add more salt and Worcestershire if needed.
6. Top with bacons. Eat. Enter soup coma.