Nutritious, Calorie Conscious, and Delicious!

If you haven’t given roasted vegetables a try you don’t know what you are missing! Not only do they taste great because roasting brings out the natural sweetness but you’ll love how quick and easy they are to prepare. All you need to do is a little advance planning.

Discover just how good vegetables can be!

That’s what I love about roasted vegetables. They’re easy to prepare if you have plenty of time for roasting or they can be prepared ahead of time and then simply reheated when you are ready to serve. This is particularly helpful midweek when time may be at a premium or you’re feeling tired and stressed after a long day of work.

You can roast just about any veggie but roasting works particularly well with root vegetables such as sweet potatoes, white potatoes, and carrots. However, you might also enjoy broccoli, summer squash, winter squash, brussel sprouts, mushrooms, green beans, asparagus, cauliflower and others.

Here’s what you need to do. First preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Then wash the vegetables and then cut them into even sized pieces. I like to cut bite size pieces because that makes them easy to eat. Depending on the size of something such as mushrooms they could be left whole.

You’ll also want to consider how fast the vegetables will cook. The heavier or denser root vegetables and winter squash may take longer to cook (depending on the size of the pieces) than say broccoli, summer squash, cauliflower, or brussel sprouts.

You could choose to cut the denser veggies such as the potatoes a bit smaller than the others. Or roast them on separate baking sheets and get the denser vegetables started first.

When all the vegetables are cut, toss them with a tablespoon or two of olive oil. Then sprinkle with some salt and pepper. Over time you can experiment with adding other seasonings.

Layer the olive oil coated veggies on a roasting pan in a single layer. Avoid having the veggies be too crowded. Having a little space around each piece allows for greater browning to occur. Total roasting time will be vary between 30 minutes and 1 hour depending on what you are cooking.

When the veggies are about half done (15-30 minutes) stir them well on the baking tray to redistribute and expose all sides to the heat. When the veggies begin to brown give them a taste to see how they are coming along. Some people like crispy roasted vegetables and others prefer just barely soft.

Easy don’t you think? Roasted vegetables can be enjoyed in a variety of ways. Serve them as a snack, as a side with a main dish, or let these veggies be a main dish in and of themselves when served over a whole grain such as whole wheat couscous, brown rice, or quinoa.

A while ago I wrote about making Tuna Fish Sandwiches with White Beans. That recipe was a switch from the standard tuna fish sandwich. The recipe I am sharing today begins with the more common tuna fish plus mayonnaise mixture but includes an ingredient you might not have considered using plus toppings to create a whole new experience.

Get creative to avoid having the same old same tuna!

Start out by making tuna fish salad with a twist. The secret ingredient is curry powder. This spice adds lots of good flavor and that in turn allows you to save calories by cutting back on the mayonnaise.

Ingredients:

1 can Albacore Tuna (white meat) ~130 calories

1Tbsp. Low Fat Mayonnaise ~15 calories

1/2 tsp. curry powder ~ 3 calories

Break up the tuna into small pieces with a fork. Add all the ingredients to a small bowl and mix well.

This mixture will make enough tuna for 2 sandwiches. (~74 calories per serving without the bread)

Now if you’d like to jazz up the tuna fish mixture a bit and make a more interesting sandwich, I recommend you add a couple of toppings. First start out with a low calorie sandwich thin (whole wheat by Arnold, Pepperidge Farm, and other companies) if you’d like to minimize your calorie intake. Otherwise look for a freshly made whole grain bread for extra flavor.

Spread tuna fish on each piece of bread. Sprinkle with a little Reduced Fat Shredded Mexican 4 Cheese Blend or other reduced fat cheese (2 Tbsp. total or one tbsp. for each slice). Now bake or broil in a toaster oven for just a little while till the cheese begins to melt. Top each sandwich half with some avocado slices (~1/4 small to medium avocado, which would be about 70 calories depending on the size of the avocado).

If you follow the ingredient amounts and use a low calorie sandwich thin, then the total calorie count for this meal (two slices of bread, each slice topped with tuna fish, cheese, and avocado) comes to approximately 300-350 calories or so.

I like this sandwich. It’s easy to make and tasty. Plus it has lots of protein, dietary fiber, and some healthy fat. Hope you like it too!