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CARAMELIZED AUTUMN ROASTED VEGETABLES

Allison Aaron

Here at The 4Q Method we love food just as much as the next guy, which is why we believe it is important to enjoy food while losing weight. In fact, food boredom can lead to frustration and poor food choices, so keeping food interesting is essential to staying on track.

Unfortunately, a lot of the interesting recipes out there are not weight-loss friendly and can be full of unnecessary fat, added sugars, and refined carbohydrates. However, adapting recipes allows you to enjoy those tasty dishes without sacrificing your weight loss or wellness goals.

That is exactly what we did with this recipe, which is adapted from Food and Wine’s Maple Ginger Roasted Vegetable recipe. The only real difference between the two is that our version has less olive oil and maple syrup. Yes, there is still maple syrup in our version, but a tiny bit of added sugar in a big batch of vegetables is not going to set you back. If anything, it will keep you from getting bored of your typical veggie rotation.

Because this dish has both starchy and non-starchy vegetables, 4Q clients can journal this as both. The pecans on top will also count as your healthy fat, so be sure to account for that as well. But most importantly, enjoy!

INGREDIENTS:

  • 1 cup pecans

  • 4 medium carrots

  • 2 large parsnips

  • 1 medium cauliflower

  • 1 medium butternut squash

  • 1 pound brussels sprouts

  • ¼ cup olive oil

  • ¼ tsp grated nutmeg

  • salt and pepper to taste

  • 2 tbsp fresh ginger, minced

  • 2 tbsp maple syrup

DIRECTIONS:

  1. Preheat oven to 425.

  2. While oven heats up, prep vegetables. Slice carrots and parsnips into 1/4-inch pieces; trim cauliflower and cut into florets; peel and seed squash and cut into 1-inch cubes; and cut brussels sprouts in half.

  3. Once oven is hot, toast pecans on a baking sheet for 5-7 minutes, being careful not to burn them.

  4. In the meantime, toss vegetables in olive oil, nutmeg, salt, and pepper and place on baking sheets.

  5. When pecans are done, take them out and put the vegetables in to roast.

  6. After 30 minutes, pull out baking sheets and add pecans, ginger, and maple syrup evenly throughout the vegetable mix.

  7. Place baking sheets back into the oven and roast for another 25 minutes.