Roasted Peppers and Baby Bellas

Simple, slow-cooked preparations can often do wonders for the taste buds. The thought of colorful vegetables slowly roasting beneath a cozy blanket of olive oil is enough to make me crave their rustic taste on a daily basis. I thus find myself eating a lot of roasted vegetables as of late; while I find the easy preparation quite attractive, I also find that the ability to roast vegetables in mass quantities is quite favorable for someone working over 50 hours per week.

This week I roasted green bell peppers with baby bellas. Last week I roasted a sweet mélange of carrots, sweet potatoes and parsnips. The week before was broccoli, acorn squash and beets. The possibilities are endless as long as you have an oven and some good olive oil. Play around with different combinations of vegetables and notice how their tastes change depending on their different arrangements.

Roasted Peppers and Baby Bellas
Serves about 3 as a side dish

2 green bell peppers
1 container of baby bella mushrooms
Generous amount of olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Wash and cut the peppers into slices. Dust the mushrooms with a paper towel to remove the dirt. Toss the pepper slices and mushrooms together and spread, in one layer, over a baking sheet. Coat with a generous amount of olive oil and gently stir the vegetables, with a wooden spoon, to ensure that they are evenly coated. Bake for one hour or until the peppers and mushrooms are tender and a tinted a golden brown. Remove, add a sprinkling of salt and pepper, and serve immediately or pack away a container in the fridge for lunch the following day.