Healthy Recipe: Lemony Roasted Vegetable Orzo
As promised, here is my next healthy recipe and my second blog entry for the week. This recipe is for 4 servings, but you could easily adjust the measurements to make more or less. Enjoy!
Lemony Roasted Vegetable Orzo
Ingredients:
-4 Servings of Dried Orzo Pasta
-2-3 Tbsp Avocado Oil (Olive oil could be used as well)
-4-8 Drops of Young Living Lemon Vitality Oil (Optional)
-Juice of 1/2 of a Lemon
-2 Bell Peppers (Use the colors you prefer)
-1 Large Zucchini
-1 Large Onion (Pictured 2, I only used 1)
-2 Ears of Corn Still in Husks
-4 Large Cloves or Garlic
-Salt & Pepper to Taste
First:
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Dice up all of your vegetables, except the corn, in large pieces. The pieces really can be any size you'd like, but be sure each vegetable is cut up in similar sizes to ensure they all cook around the same time (be sure to change cooking times if you cut the pieces up much smaller than intended as they will burn at my suggested cooking times).
Second:
Place all of the vegetables on a baking sheet. Spray them with cooking spray/drizzle them with oil, salt, and pepper and toss. Place the ears of corn on the sides of the baking sheet. You are going to roast these in the husks along with the other vegetables. Once your oven is preheated, place them in the oven and bake for 30-40 minutes. Remove them from the oven and allow them to cool (especially the corn as you will be handling it later).
Third:
As the vegetables are cooling, put a pot on the stove with water for your pasta. Once the water boils, add salt, and then your orzo pasta. Cook according to package directions. I find that orzo, being so small, takes less time to cook than other shapes. Strain and put aside the cooked orzo.
Fourth:
Make your dressing. I used a small mason jar to do this, but forgot to take pictures of this step. In the jar (or any kind of container with a lid) add the juice of 1/2 of a lemon, about 4 drops of the lemon essential oil (this is optional, but it gives it an extra lemony flavor), and start with 2 Tbsps of the avocado oil. Also add a bit of salt and pepper to taste. Put the lid on your jar and shake. Taste your dressing, it should taste like lemons but not be too overpowering. If it is, add more avocado oil and shake again. It should be nicely emulsified as well.
Fifth:
Once cooled enough to handle, take the corn out of the husks and cut the kernels off the cob. Add the corn to the rest of the vegetables and mix. Add the dressing and the vegetables to the orzo. Toss everything together and taste. I personally added a bit more of the lemon essential oil here. You may want to adjust the seasonings a bit more to your liking here as well. Once everything is seasoned right it is ready! Just serve alongside whichever protein you wish and you have a nice healthy side dish to make up a nice and healthy meal.
I made this side dish to go along with my salmon for dinner tonight, but also made enough to save for meals for the rest of the week. You really can use any vegetables in this recipe that you would like. Adding mushrooms, asparagus, or even spinach would all make great additions or substitutions. I have been making this recipe for years. I didn't realize how many original recipes I have actually come up with over the years until I started incorporating them into this page. I love that I have a space to do that. I hope you enjoy them as well!
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