We Wuv Wegetables!!

Tonight's dinner was a big bunch of vegetables. One half was roasted, the other half was a nice, fresh salad. Both were delicious and satisfying!

I think one of my favorite things about dishes that are vegetable based and have very little extra *stuff* to make them heavy, and unhealthy is that you can eat A TON of them and still feel amazing! And they just taste good...soooo good...

Roasted Butternut Squash, Kale, and Red Peppers
makes 3-4 servings as a main

• 2 bunches Lacinato kale
• 3 red bell peppers
• 2 bags cubed butternut squash (I used Green Giant steamer bags)
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
• Italian seasoning, garlic salt, and fresh thyme to taste

Preheat oven to 400F. Place butternut squash in large ziploc freezer bag. Pour in about half of the olive oil and balsamic as well as the seasoning. Zip and shake until all the squash is evenly coated. Pour squash onto large foil lined baking sheet. Roast at 400F for 40 minutes. Meanwhile, remove stem from kale, rinse and chop along with peppers. Place these in the same bag you used for the squash with the rest of the olive oil and balsamic and more seasoning. Do the same zip and shake (way more fun if you do a little dance while you shake). When there are 20 minutes left for the butternut squash, remove the baking sheet, give the squash a stir, and pour the kale and peppers onto the sheet. It will overflow a bit, but not to worry because the kale will cook down a lot. At the end of the time, remove the baking sheet and sprinkle a little sea salt over the top of all the vegetables. Stir to thoroughly mix everything. Add whatever protein you prefer - my parents had chicken and I cooked some organic turkey bacon with Italian seasoning and crumbled that into the vegetables.

Fruity Green Salad

• several Romaine lettuce leaves, rinsed and torn into bite-sized pieces
• about 2 cups spinach leaves, rinsed and torn into bite-sized pieces
• 1 1/2 cups blueberries
• 1 orange, peeled and diced
• 1 avocado, diced
• 1 cup purple cabbage, chopped

Dressing...

• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 2 TBS pomegranate balsamic vinegar
• 2 TBS white balsamic vinegar
• salt and pepper to taste

*the measurements for the dressing are all guesses, just add or subtract to your own taste!

Toss all ingredients into large bowl. Drizzle olive oil and both vinegars directly on salad. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. Toss everything together to coat evenly with dressing. Enjoy!