Roasted Summer Garden Vegetables and Sausage

It's back-to-school season! My three oldest kids have all started school, and we are all happy to be back in school and on a regular schedule around here. Back-to-school also means canning season and finding other ways to use up all the vegetables my garden is producing.

I have a few recipes I pull out this time of year that are tried and true favorites with my family, but each year I still like to try and come up with new ideas to use my garden produce. I came up with one that I tried several weeks ago, and I think I have found another keeper recipe! The idea isn't groundbreaking, but it was something new for me.

I have roasted potatoes and carrots in the oven many times for my family, and served them alongside a meat loaf or roast. Last time I did this, I thought why not do the same thing with our garden veggies? So I tried this out with some vegetables a couple times, and also threw in some sausage to make a complete meal. It turned out great and also makes for easy cleanup.

I have found similar recipes on the Internet for this idea...here's how I decided to make it. (Amounts will vary depending on how much you want to make for your family):

First, chop up all your vegetables and add them to a large bowl. For this particular batch I did yellow crookneck squash, zucchini, broccoli, red potato, and green, red, and yellow bell pepper. There are a variety of vegetables you could try and add to the mix. I personally would not recommend green beans. When I tried this recipe with green beans, they came out a little too tough for my preference.

Next, chop up some smoked turkey sausage and add that.

 Next, add some olive oil to the bowl and stir until all the vegetables are nicely coated with oil. Then sprinkle on some Lawry's Seasoned Salt and Garlic Powder until everything is seasoned.

Next, prepare some cookie sheets with tinfoil, and spray the tinfoil with cooking spray. (Don't forget that step, they will stick to the foil and be hard to peel off after they are done cooking if you do.)

Then, spread out the contents of the large bowl on the cookie sheets. You can have a good amount on the sheet, but you don't want to pile them up too high. Make sure it's a thin enough layer so it can all cook evenly. For the amount I made, I had to use two cookie sheets to spread my vegetables out enough.

Then cook them in the oven on 400 degrees Fahrenheit for about 30-40 minutes. I switched the two cookie sheets halfway through cooking time, again so they could cook evenly. I knew the potatoes would take the longest to cook, so that's what I checked to make sure it was done cooking.

And that's it! A great dinner for your family all ready to go! You could serve it with rice, but I served it to my family as is and it was filling for all of us.

Any other ideas for how you use your garden produce?