Brunch for Bitches: Roasted Veggie Recipes

As promised, here are the two roasted veggie recipes. They use similar ingredients, so I suggest making the two recipes within a few days of each other. Also, I must warn: you may become addicted to roasting vegetables after making these recipes...Enjoy!

Roasted Veggies Mixed With Orzo
Serving size = 1 (but can easily be doubled!)
**also, feel free to use whatever veggies you want. These are just the ones I had on hand.

Ingredients:

-1 sweet potato
-1/2 medium eggplant
-1/4 cauliflower
-1 small onion
**cut the above ingredients into 1-2 inch pieces
-4 beets, remove greens (save for Roasted Veggies Over Cheesy Polenta recipe) and trim off tops and bottoms so that beets have a flat surface
-3 cloves of garlic, minced & separated (you'll need 2 cloves for roasting and 1 clove raw)

-1/4 cup parsley, coarsely chopped
-2 cups kale, chopped (separate stems & leaves)
-1/4 cup orzo
-1/2 cup canned chickpeas, drained & rinsed
-2 tablespoons olive oil (separated)
-1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
-1 tablespoon dried herbs of your choice (I used herbs de provence)
-pepper, to taste
-optional: some nice italian cheese (Pecorino Romano, for instance) to grate on top

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit; place saucepan filled with water on the stove on high heat
2. Combine sweet potato, eggplant, cauliflower, onion, 2 cloves minced garlic, 1 tablespoon olive oil, dried herbs, and pepper in a bowl. Mix well.

3. Evenly spread veggies on a baking sheet; wrap beets in aluminum foil (like a tent) and place them on the same baking sheet.
5. Place baking sheet in oven for 20-25 minutes (after 10 minutes, check on the veggies, mix them around with a spatula, then let them continue cooking for 10-15 more minutes).

6. Heat sauté pan on stove on medium heat; once the pan is hot, add remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil

7. Add kale stems & cook for 2 minutes; then add kale leaves (you may need to do this in batches, depending on the size of your pan)

8. Meanwhile, your saucepan with water should be boiling. Add orzo to water and cook according to package.

9. Remove veggies from oven after 20-25 minutes; carefully remove beets from foil and peel off their skin; chop the beets into 1-inch pieces and combine with the rest of roasted veggies --- you will only use half of this roasted veggie mix. Save the other half for another meal!

10. Drain orzo. Combine 1/2 of roasted veggie mix, sauteed kale, orzo, 1 clove minced garlic, balsamic vinegar, parsley, and chickpeas in a bowl.
11. Top with grated cheese and serve!

Roasted Veggies Over Cheesy Polenta
Serving Size: 1

Ingredients:
-remaining 1/2 of roasted veggie mix from Roasted Veggies Mixed With Orzo recipe
**if you don't have leftover roasted veggies, you can follow the directions for the above recipe as to how you should roast some veggies!
-2 cups beet greens (or other greens like swiss chard, spinach, kale, etc.)
-1/2 cup canned chickpeas, drained & rinsed

-1/4 cup yellow cornmeal
-1 cup water
-2 tablespoons cheese (this time I used crumbled blue cheese, but grated cheddar tastes really good as well!)
-1 tablespoon olive oil
-pepper, to taste

Directions:
1. Heat sauté pan on stove on medium heat; when hot, add olive oil, followed by beet greens
2. Cook greens for 2-3 minutes, until wilted, but still bright green; turn heat to low.

3. Combine cornmeal and water in a saucepan; bring to a boil and then reduce to simmer immediately, stirring the cornmeal constantly until it turns to a thick porridge-like consistency (about 5-10 minutes); this is your polenta.

4. Add cheese to polenta (be sure to keep stirring); add a few grinds of pepper.
5. Once polenta has formed an almost solid consistency, turn the heat off and place a top on the saucepan to keep the polenta warm.
6. Turn saute pan up to medium-low heat, add chickpeas, and cook for 2 minutes.