Diabetic Favorites: Roasted Vegetables, a Versatile Staple

In my never-ending search for family friendly dishes that meet diabetic needs, I have a few simple criteria. First of all the dish needs to be low in carbs (no more than two starch exchanges per serving.) Second, it needs to be low in saturated fats, and third, it must not contain any sources of refined carbs such as white flour or sugar. We also like things that are flavorful and filling. Roasted vegetables meet all our needs and are a great vegetable based main dish for both the summer and winter seasons.

The first step in making roasted vegetables is to get out a large casserole dish. I usually use a 15 x 11 shallow oval ceramic pan, but you can use any pan that is oven safe at high temperatures and that is big enough to fit all your vegetables in. I like to grease the pan with a little olive oil to help prevent sticking. Then I preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.

Now I prepare the vegetables. Although endless variations are possible, my base recipe is four sweet potatoes, two red and two green bell peppers, two small or one large onion, two 10 ounce packages of white button mushrooms, and three broccoli crowns. The sweet potatoes get peeled and then cut into one inch cubes. The peppers are similarly diced, and the onions are cut into bite size wedges. The broccoli is cut into bite size florets, and the mushrooms are left whole.

Toss all of the vegetables into the casserole dish and drizzle them well with both olive oil and balsamic vinegar. I use about ½ cup of each. Top it all off with a couple of teaspoons of kosher salt and toss it all together until everything is well blended. Put it in the oven and cook stirring occasionally until the vegetables are fork tender, 30 to 45 minutes.

There are endless variations to this recipe. In the summer, I like to wrap the vegetable mixture in aluminum foil and roast it on the grill. Good summer additions to this are zucchini and yellow summer squash along with your favorite fresh herbs in season. Another variation is to substitute cubed butternut squash for the sweet potatoes and cauliflower for the broccoli. Any of your favorite vegetables can be roasted as long as you keep the size of the pieces similar.

If you want roasted veggies as a side dish, leave the sweet potatoes off altogether and cut the cooking time by 10 to 15 minutes. Sometime I substitute bottled Italian salad dressing for the oil and vinegar. Be sure to check the carb content of the dressing if you go this route! Don't be afraid to experiment to find the combinations that are your family's favorite.

Consider adding roasted vegetables to your dinner rotation for a healthy, satisfying, diabetes friendly dish. A one cup serving of the base recipe equals 1.5 starch exchanges, 1 vegetable exchange, and 1 fat exchange.