The Four Best Winter Veggie Recipes

About this time of winter, I am really really feeling like I need more veggies in my life.  I don’t know about you, but as much as I love vegetables, since it’s so cold outside, I often skip the veggies in favor of something hearty and warm. I decided that maybe I just wasn’t doing it right, so I’ve tried to step up my game and really explore what winter vegetables have to offer.

Kale, butternut squash, brussels sprouts, and cauliflower are known to be a few good cool weather vegetables since they’re hearty and grow in colder climates.  Our Kale actually kept on going in our garden until late November! This week I had to go to the market since our garden is buried in snow, but I was able to find these veggies from relatively local farms. I’ve rounded up my top favorite recipes for these four winter vegetable staples that I think you’ll really love (and you’ll get those much needed vitamins and minerals that we lack in the colder months!) Let’s go!

Butternut, Apple, and Bacon Soup

This is one of my favorite soups.  It sounds odd to add the apple, but I promise you, it’s absolutely delicious. The bacon flavor is IN the soup as well, which gives it a nice smokey flavor to balance the sweetness of the squash and apple.  I use this recipe from Epicurious, except for I use an immersion blender instead of a stand blender.  If you do not have an immersion blender, get one asap.  I use this one and although I use it for this soup, I use it mostly for my homemade marinara sauce. It’s so much quicker and dirties way less extraneous dishes than a stand blender.

Kale Pesto with Spaghetti

The garlic, lemon, and parmesan make this kale pesto magnifico! Toss it with pasta or eat on crackers with tomatoes like I do.

Honey Sriracha Brussels Sprouts

If you have someone in your life who claims they hate brussels sprouts, make this sweet & spicy version from Shared Appetite and the’ll be forever changed.

Parmesan Roasted Cauliflower

This is another recipe that will have you rethinking your position on cauliflower.  Firstly, roasting cauliflower makes a world of a difference.  You would never believe how sweet and caramelized it gets if you haven’t tried it prepared this way.  Then you add in the parmesan in this recipe from The Wicked Noodle and it just makes this normally bleh veggie irresistible.  You have to try it to believe it.

What I love about each one of these recipes is that the veggie really takes center stage.  well, I suppose that depends on how you eat that pesto, but still.  If you’re feeling a little deprived of the goodness of veggies this winter, try these four amazing recipes – you won’t be sorry!

p.s.  If you’d like to read a little something design oriented today, I’m posting about how to simplify your life and decor over on the Bali Blinds blog!  Enjoy!!

Sources:  The first and second photos are by Earnest Home co.  All other photos below to the blog that the recipe originated from.