root vegetables bento

Another day, another new box. Well three, actually. Using my black strawberry box, my zoo animals sidecar, and one of the mini sidecars.

Breakfast:

• plain Greek yogurt in the sidecar; this was exactly the purpose I wanted the sidecars for, thanks to my last breakfast that ended upside down on the car floor...the box lid is sealed so it wasn't in any danger of making a mess, but my breakfast was a mostly lost cause
• Fremont tangerine and some fresh raspberries

Lunch:

• top tier: maple-glazed parsnips, carrots, and sweet potatoes in one half; steamed broccoli, homemade pasta, and the rest of the chicken from the other day in the other half
• bottom tier: pineapple, raspberries, green grapes, and a small container of dark chocolate covered raisins

The maple-glazed root veggies were an experiment. We had parsnips in a delivery awhile back that I wasn't sure what to do with. We've also had a sweet potato sitting here since Thanksgiving(!) that I kept meaning to roast but never got around to. So when I stumbled across this great recipe that called for parsnips and sweet potatoes and carrots, I had to make it.

Maple Glazed Winter Root Vegetables

1/4 cup maple syrup + 2 tbsp dijon mustard + fresh garlic, minced
olive oil, salt & pepper
sweet potato, carrots, and parsnips, cut into chunks

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Coat parsnips, potatoes and carrots with the olive oil, salt and pepper on a baking pan. Roast in oven for 15 minutes, then remove and retoss on baking sheet. Cook 15 minutes more, until all the veggies and potatoes are soft. Comine maple syrup, dijon mustard and garlic powder in a small bowl. Drizzle the maple mixture over potatoes and veggies and mix to coat well.

I'm not a fan of dijon and I almost left it out, but I know that in recipes it can make a difference and you don't necessarily taste the dijon-ness. I can taste it in this, but I actually really liked how it all turned out; I think I would experiment with putting in less, but it definitely needs something like that in order to keep it from being too sweet. Anyway, a great find, super simple, and highly recommended.