Oven roasted vegetables - easy and delicious

Have you tried oven roasting vegetables?  I know it is summer and turning on the oven sounds too hot, but these are a no-tend side dish. Once you put them in to cook, leave them alone and come back in 30 minutes and your side dish will be done.

Going in the oven.....

I usually line the baking tray with foil for easier clean up but it is not essential. 

Spread a small amount of oil on the foil - for one big zucchini, a quarter of a red diced onion and 1 potato, I used 1 heaped up teaspoon of coconut oil- any oil you like to cook with would work. 

 Just cut your vegetables into bite size-ish pieces. Those potatoes are in thin wedges, long but not really thick. 

Put the vegetables on the tray and toss them around to get the oil spread around.  

Season with salt and pepper as desired and then just bake in a preheated 450 degree oven for 30 minutes.  You can stir them halfway through but it is not necessary. 

Coming out of the oven.....

Squash and zucchini bake up with some caramelization. Potatoes are almost like fried fries.

Broccoli and cauliflower get crispy. 

This has become our favorite way to cook vegetables, especially when my husband cooks the main course outside on the grill and I have prepared a tossed salad earlier in the day. 

Frugal Friday

My first big job today was cooking 8 pounds of ground sirloin into chili and taco filling,

After cooking, it all went into the freezer in meal size containers. Having entrees that just need heated up really is convenient on busy days - and frugal as it prevents the need for a meal out by necessity.

I have used this taco seasoning for years. I usually double or triple it and keep it in a quart jar.

This is my chili recipe- I follow the spices but the other ingredients are flexible. I don't usually add the celery or bell pepper, I used tomato sauce and tomatoes with green chilies instead of the tomato juice and I used home cooked pintos instead of canned beans.

Both of the above recipes are from AllRecipes.com 

Made 2 pitchers of unsweetened ice tea- I think besides water, tea is the lowest cost of all beverages

We change the filter in our central air unit once a month. Apparently our size is not common and Walmart only has our size filters in the expensive version,

So I looked on Amazon and found a case of 12 for about $14.  I ordered them  Wednesday evening and they were delivered this morning. 

Like most days, I try to earn points on Swagbucks. Mostly I get them by running autoplay videos on my Kindle Fire. 

I mowed our yard with our electric lawn mower.  We have had the Neuton electric mower for 4 summers and it is so convenient, easy to use and quiet. My neighbor 2 doors down stopped today to ask about it.   

Did some quick sewing alterations on 2 grands swimsuits to make the waists smaller. 

Today is also laundry day- some of the laundry is air drying on hangers in doorways.

supper will be oven roasted zucchini from our daughter in laws garden and homemade roma
sauce over pasta. 

The grands did get to swim twice yesterday- once in the morning when it was barely warm and again after naps when it was hot.  They had just the best time! The 2 older ones that talk must of said "this is so much fun" and "this pool is awesome" and "thank you buying this pool" about 100 times. 

The cake baking and cake eating were a hit too!   I think there will lots more swimming and cooking with the grands this summer.

linking up with Terri's Hearts in Service Frugal Friday