Recipes I failed to take pictures of.

The other day we had some friends over and I didn't take pictures as I was making dinner because I didn't want to seem like a dork. So now I'm doing a food blog post without pictures. Which will make me seem like a dork. You really can't win.

Anyway.

For our side dish, I made roasted root vegetables, which is an Alexander family Christmas dinner recipe. It is totally delicious. Here is an actual recipe.


Ingredients:

• Turnips. 
• Parsnips. 
• Carrots. 
• Beets. 
• Sweet potatoes.
• Brussels Sprouts. 
• Olive oil.
• Balsamic vinegar.
• Salt and pepper.
• Feta cheese.

Directions:

• Wash and cut up the turnips, parsnips, carrots, beets, and sweet potatoes. 
• We only used half a turnip because ours was really big and we didn't want the turnip flavor to overwhelm everything else. 
• You don't have to use both parsnips and carrots. They kind of smell the same anyway. The parsnips have a pretty mild flavor in case you aren't familiar with them.
• I left out the beets because they have a much stronger flavor and I didn't want to buy an entire bunch of beets just to use one. But they can be good. And of course they add lovely color.
• Make sure to cut the sweet potatoes in bigger chunks than the rest, because they cook faster and you don't want them to be mush.
• OK. Now cook whichever veggies you've chosen for a while in a skillet with a bit of olive oil. This will give the outside a bit of extra texture kiiiiind of but not really like the outside of a french fry.
• Meanwhile. Wash the brussels sprouts and peel off the entire outside layer of them. I know it seems wasteful but the outside layer is gross so just get rid of it. Then cut them in half. 
• Put your semi-cooked vegetables and the brussels sprouts on a cookie sheet, add more olive oil, a bit of balsamic vinegar, and salt and pepper. Roast at 400 degrees until they look done. I really have no idea how long this is (25 minutes?) so test with a fork.
• Serve with feta cheese on top and more oil/vinegar/salt/pepper if it needs any. 

The main dish we ate with the vegetables was based on this recipe. I floured/salted/peppered two pounds of chicken tenderloins and cooked them in a skillet with some butter and olive oil. And in another pan I cooked two packages of mushrooms and several cloves of garlic, also in butter and olive oil. (Healthy was not the theme that day.) Then I chopped up a bunch of green onions and threw them in. And then added a bunch of white wine and let it cook for a while. Then I had to add a bit of flour because it wasn't thickening up. Then it thickened up too much and I had to add more wine. (More wine... oh no!) I didn't serve it with rice but I did have garlic bread available so you know. Starches. We had them.