Roasted Veggies - A flavorful side to any feast

I consider myself pretty lucky to enjoy many different festivals and cultures. This is partly because my husband and I have different heritage, and partly due to living in the melting pot United States, whether East Coast, West Coast, or college towns in between. When Diwali, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and more line up in a matter of weeks, you can suddenly you realize you've been eating sweets for weeks, but you only have more feasts coming up!

Today I want to highlight the healthier veggies we enjoy every day, which are also an important balance in our holiday diet. I used these as an inspiration for one of my dishes at my in-laws' Thanksgiving feast.

This is a simple roasted veggie platter. A festive dish does not have to be too complicated to taste great. When you have enough of the rich stuff on the table, a dish like this helps cut through the richness while providing the much needed rainbow of nutrients.

I used mini vegetables to make cleaning and prepping the ingredients faster. Believe me, I have done this the long way before -- chopping all the regular sized veggies -- and I was in the kitchen for much too long. This dish took me only half an hour on Thanksgiving morning, and everyone loved it at dinner that afternoon!

I used in miniature: carrots, sweet peppers, mushrooms, beets, turnips, squashes, onions, garlic, several colors of potatoes, and of course fresh herbs, like oregano and thyme.

I'm also lucky to live near wonderful, year-round farmers' markets like the Ballard Sunday Farmers' Market and Pike Place Market in Seattle. Buy organic, local, and seasonally whenever possible. With a simple dish like this everyone will always appreciate the difference!