I love it when I try to make something for the first time and not only does it come out not sucking, but instead it comes out delicious.

I must confess I’d never made roasted vegetables before (hangs head in shame). Yeah, yeah whatever… there’s a first time for everything right? Thankfully my virgin attempt was a success and now a whole new world has opened up before me.

My maiden voyage into the world of roasting involved asparagus, carrots and fennel. Why not, right? First I mixed up some olive oil, rice vinegar, maple syrup, coriander, black pepper and red chili flakes. I poured this over the veggies in a Pyrex baking dish and got everything nice and coated, then sprinkled on some nutrional yeast. Popped the whole thing into a pre-heated 425 degree oven and then let ‘em sweat it out for about 15 to 20 minutes, turning everything a couple times in the process. Once finished I also sprinkled on some gomasio.

I was surprised at how totally yummy it all turned out. I was expecting them at worst to be awful, or at best undercooked… or burned. Nope, instead they were perfectly cooked, and I somehow managed to create the perfect mix of flavors with my little olive oil & maple concoction (got that idea from a couple of different recipes over at the fabulous Have Cake Will Travel). The lovely veggies were served with polenta cakes topped with roasted red pepper salad dressing from Seeds of Change. Every single ingredient in this was organic as well. Go me! I am so satisfied right now, you have no idea. If I pat myself on the back any harder I’m gonna start to bruise.

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