Roasted Root Vegetables - an easy but fancy side dish

So your in-laws are coming over for a nice family dinner...provided by you, of course. You've got a roast chicken or maybe a pork loin planned, but you've worked all week and you don't have time or energy to make anything impressive to go with it--or do you?

Roasted root veggies are here to save the day! These are easy, go with all sorts of dinner dishes and taste incredible. Plus, roasted vegetables look kind of rustic-chic and are perfect for winter meals, not to mention being pretty healthy for you, so the whole family will be impressed with your culinary skill. Let's get down to the root of this!

You will need an assortment of veggies, like potatoes (red or Yukons would be best), whole carrots, parsnips, onions and garlic. Later, you'll need salt and pepper, dried or fresh rosemary and olive oil.

Wash up all your veggies and scrub off any dirt, especially from the potatoes. Peel the carrots and parsnips. If you don't have one or the other, no worries, just use whatever you have. You could also experiment with other veggies like turnips or rutabagas. Cut the potatoes in rough quarters and put in a large bowl. *Note about the potatoes: if you ARE using Yukons (gold/yellow) or red (aka, "new") potatoes, a nice thing to do is boil them in salted water for 5-10 minutes before roasting. After boiling, let them drain and cool in a colander for a couple minutes and then kind of toss them and shake them up a bit. This will help them cook better with the other veggies and hopefully create some extra crispy edges. If you are using Russets, do NOT use this step, as Russets bake more quickly than other potatoes and will be more likely to fall apart in the end if you pre-boil them.

Cut the carrots and parsnips in about 2-3 inch chunks, cutting them in half or quarters length wise if they rather big around. Toss these in the bowl.

Cut up some onions, maybe 2-3 depending on their size. Cut them in quarters or even eighths if they are rather large, just so you have big chunks for roasting. Put these in the bowl along with a handful of garlic cloves that still have their "papers" on them, but have been smashed a bit.

Now the fun part! Pour a few glugs of olive oil over the whole mess along with a generous sprinkling of dried rosemary or some torn sprigs of fresh rosemary if you have it. Also add a generous amount of salt and fresh ground pepper. Now toss! I just use my hands to mix it all in.

Once well tossed, preheat your oven to 400 degrees (F) and dump all the veggies on a cookie sheet. Bake for one hour. You may want to stir them around half way through for even cooking. You'll know it is done when a fork goes easily into the potatoes and you see some nice browning on them.

Ready to serve! Your guests will be impressed and you'll have a nice side dish that works great as leftovers too.