Oven Roasted Potatoes, Green Bean, Bell Pepper and Sausage, seasoned with spring onion and pieces of chili on a baking sheet — one pan favorite meal. Photo from Shutterstock.

By Cathy Wilson
Guest Columnist

Seriously, can it get any easier than putting dinner on a sheet pan and waiting 40 minutes for it to cook? I love, love, love roasted vegetables, so this is my kind of meal.

Keeping in mind that a weekly goal is to have 200 different healthy foods for a variety of phytonutrients, this is a terrific way of consuming a nutrient dense meal. The variations are endless so let’s get going.

Line a large sheet pan with parchment paper and basically, you can add any vegetable to the pan. It’s a good plan to cut the vegetables into approximately the same size so they cook evenly. If you have larger pieces, put them on the outside edges of the pan rather than in the middle. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Tips & Options:

Toss vegetables in a bowl with a little olive oil, dressing or marinade.

It’s optional to cover the vegetables with foil for at least the first half of the cooking time. They tend to steam more than broil, but it keeps them from charring.

May be served alone, or over quinoa or farro.

Dress with a herby-yogurt before serving.

Add canned chick peas to any vegetable combination for extra fiber and protein.

You can make it ultra-simple with just:

• Zucchini.

• Potatoes.

• Whole garlic.

Or, seasonal winter vegetables of:

• Brussel sprouts.

• Butternut squash.

• Cauliflower.

• Carrots.

• Broccoli.

Root vegetables are grown underground. They include potatoes, carrots, onions, sweet potatoes, turnips, beets, garlic, radishes and fennel. I could see using hearty and healthy root vegetables on a sheet pan drizzled with balsamic for a complete dinner.

In the sheet pan meal I made last week I used cauliflower, red onion, mushrooms, zucchini, poblano peppers, red potatoes and acorn squash. The squash was cooked upside down to keep it moist. Vegetable seasoning was added before roasting. You can shop for ingredients, or, as I did — look in the refrigerator and when you see lots of vegetables, say — time for a sheet pan dinner!

To your health.

Cat Wilson lives in South Bend and transitioned from a vegetarian diet to eating a plant-based diet over two years ago. She may be contacted at [email protected].