Cooking Vegetables with More Flavor

When cooking vegetables, roasting is one of the simplest ways to prepare veggies. Just mix with a little olive oil and toss in a pan. Using high heat draws out the natural sugars in the vegetables, softening and mellowing them to perfect tenderness. Another bonus—you can change their flavor almost as quickly as you change your mind.

Italian Roasted Vegetables: Substitute 2 teaspoons of Italian seasoning and 5 cloves of garlic, chopped, for the thyme leaves. Omit the red bell pepper and parsnips, and use 2 large tomatoes, each cut into 8 wedges, and 8 oz whole mushrooms.

Caribbean Jerk Roasted Vegetables: Substitute 1 to 2 teaspoons Caribbean jerk seasoning for the thyme leaves. Omit the red bell pepper, carrots and parsnips, and use 2 sweet potatoes, each cut into 8 pieces. Stir in 3 zucchini, each cut into 1-inch slices, after the first 15 minutes of roasting.

If you're roasting a variety of veggies at once, they may not all be done at the same time. Be prepared to remove some from the oven before others.

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