The trip to the Denver area went well. I actually didn't take very many photos, but here is one of my older brother, NoHandle, who sometimes does guest posts. Love the jazz hands!
One evening we had a salad dinner with lots of different toppings to suit the various diets and desires of the family present. Earlier in the day I roasted a variety of veggies with some balsamic vinegar and olive oil and a few herbs. That turned out to be one of the favorite toppings, so I made some more today here at home. This time I had access to our own rosemary shrub, so there was fresh rosemary and dried thyme for the herbs. This is an easy side dish to make and your kitchen smells heavenly while it's cooking. When I made this for the family I used red onions and three colors of bell pepper, but today I used yellow onion and just red pepper. Still delicious, just slightly less colorful. Recipe can be found at the bottom of this post.
The flowers are blooming like mad. In Littleton for the memorial it was still early spring, with gorgeous tulips and flowering crab apple and regular apple showering down dark pin and light pink petals over all those assembled to remember Beth. Just beautiful!
At home I have the first iris to bloom, plus plenty of California poppies,
including a lovely dark pink one, a pretty light gold one, a deep and lighter orange bi-color and the standard bright orange ones. All of these blooming plants
(including the berries down by the road) make me feel merry, which is just the right way to feel in May.
The roses are in bloom, both the deep red shrub rose and the yellow tea rose. Soon I'll have poppies and strawberries
(the flowers are already all over the strawberry plants) and who knows what else.
The seeds that I planted before I left have sprouted,
including the beans. I planted more bean and sunflower seeds today and hope to put in some cucumber seeds this weekend. The night time temperatures are finally staying above 45 degrees, so the seeds have the right conditions to do well.
Hope you have been having fun so far in May. Come back soon for more food recipes. Roasted Veggies recipe just below this photo of them on the sheet pan.
Roasted Veggies with Balsamic
1-2 medium zucchini, ends trimmed, quartered lengthwise and sliced into 1-inch wide chunks
1 bunch small carrots, ends trimmed, skin removed with a scrubbie (if desired), cut in half lengthwise
1 onion, red or yellow, ends trimmed, peeled, sliced into slim wedges
1-2 bell peppers, any color, cored, seeds removed, sliced into slim wedges
2-3 tablespoons good quality balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
2 teaspoons fresh rosemary (or more, to taste)
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
Preheat the oven to 500 degrees F.
In a large plastic bag (I use produce bags), place all the prepared veggies, then all the rest of the ingredients. Shake the bag well to coat the veggies with the vinegar, oil and seasonings.
Line a half-sheet pan (with sides) with heavy duty aluminum foil. Dump the coated veggies out of the bag onto the sheet pan and use the outside of the plastic bag to move the veggies into a single layer.
Place the sheet pan into the center of the preheated oven. Roast for 12 minutes. Remove from oven and use a spatula to flip the veggies over. You will see that the side now facing up has browned areas. Use the spatula to again move the veggies into a single layer. Return to the oven and cook for about another 5 minutes, until veggies are tender and a bit more browned.
Let cool in the pan on a cooling rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.
That was a delicious salad. We are planning to emulate it for our Mother's Day brunch. It is so much fun to create salad ingredients for many different food plans. Thanks for the great idea!
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