A meatless meal all baked on one sheet pan! Sweet potatoes rolled in warming spices, and chickpeas crisped in the oven. All served with a cooling dollop of guacamole.
Help me! I can’t get enough of roasted veggies at the moment! If you are a vegetable in my fridge at the moment your fate is sealed – in garlic-infused olive oil and sea salt that is. Brussels sprouts, zucchini, sweet potato, pumpkin, onions, capsicum, golden squash, broccoli, asparagus: it doesn’t matter what you are I will roast you until you are sweet and soft and slightly crispy and oh so delicious! Except maybe you lettuce, sorry, you can’t sit with us get roasted that’s just plain wrong. 
There are so many great things about roasting a huge tray of vegetables. Firstly, it’s a super easy way to make dinner. Slice up a whole heap of your favourite veggies, roll them in some olive oil, herbs and spices and slide them into the oven. Add your protein of choice and voila! Dinner is made. Secondly, a huge tray of veggies makes for easy leftover meals. Add roasted vegetables to salads, pack them alongside your favourite grain for a hearty lunch, or add a fried/poached/scrambled egg on top – there’s nothing roasted veggies can’t make better! Thirdly, from a dietitian standpoint a huge tray of roasted vegetables means veggie packed meals! And that makes my dietetic heart smile because veggies of all kinds are packed with fiber, nutrients, and healthy carbohydrates. So, they’re bound to make your heart smile too (<– insert lame dietitian joke here…).
This dinner came about last Sunday. The rain was misting our windows and the afternoon was dark. Penny was snuffling gently in her sleep and Chris and I were pottering around and planning a family movie night with ‘Inside Out’. I wanted something hands-off for dinner so that I could join Penny in some afternoon napping. A Saturday morning market trip meant that the fridge was bursting with fresh produce. These two factors (laziness + full fridge) produced an amazingly simple, but flavour-packed dinner and leftovers to boot!
I chopped sweet potato, capsicum and red onion in chunky pieces, drained some chickpeas, coated them all in olive oil, turmeric, cumin, and a touch of ginger and salt, sprinkled over some sliced garlic and let the oven do it’s magic for about half an hour. Just before the oven timer chimed I blended an avocado, some lime juice and a hefty dose of black pepper and ding! An easy, cheap, meatless, whole food, dinner was ready for the table! Just in time for the movie. Crispy, sweet roasted veggies with a little tingle of spice with a cooling dip of guacamole was the perfect blend of fresh and comforting for a light Sunday night dinner. If you wanted to make this a little heartier, a scoop of quinoa, or a chunk of crusty bread would work very nicely. And, the leftovers are equally awesome the next day. Here’s to the roasted veggie! Long may you reign! 
Spiced Sweet Potato and Chickpea Traybake with Guacamole
vegan | gluten free | serves 2-3 generously
Ingredients
- 1 x 400 gram tin chickpeas, rinsed
- 2 large sweet potatoes
- 1 large red capsicum
- 2 medium red onions
- 1 tablespoon olive oil (I used garlic-infused for an extra flavour boost!)
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- Pinch salt and pepper
- 3 garlic cloves
For the guacamole
- 1 medium ripe avocado
- Juice of 1 lime
- 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- Coriander for sprinkling (optional)
Method
- Preheat your oven to 180C (350F) and line a large, rimmed baking sheet with baking paper. Set aside until required.
- Place rinsed chickpeas on a thick layer of paper towels to drain well.
- Peel sweet potato. Chop into large wedges. Core capsicum and chop into large pieces of a similar size to the sweet potato wedges. Peel onions and chop into quarters. Place vegetablesinto a large bowl.
- Add chickpeas. Then drizzle over olive oil and sprinkle on cumin, turmeric, ginger, and salt and pepper. Toss vegetables lightly with your hands to make sure everything is coated well.
- Spread vegetables and chickpeas over the prepared baking sheet.
- Peel and slice garlic into thin slices. Sprinkle slices over the vegetables.
- Bake vegetables in preheated oven for 25-30 minutes or until the sweet potatoes are soft in the middle when poked with a knife.
- While the vegetables are baking, prepare the guacamole. Place avocado, lime juice, salt and pepper into a small food processor and blend until smooth and fluffy. If you don’t have a small food processor you can use a fork to mash all the ingredients together. Your guac will just be chunky instead of smooth and that’s delicious too!
- Once the vegetables are roasted, divide them between the plates and top with a generous dollop of guacamole and a sprinkling of coriander leaves.
