OK, so I’ll be the first to admit that this wasn’t always a hot subject for me. French Fries were my choice in a veggie: that or a side salad with ranch. I always made up for the healthy foods with fruit, so it never bothered me. Once I started to change my way of eating, I began eating more and more vegetables. I started to love red peppers, broccoli, snap peas, and even zucchini! Cucumbers have always been my favorite, and carrots and cauliflower I can only eat cooked. But hey, I am growing! Of course, corn is fantastic, and peas. Too bad they don’t count as a good veggie. Dang, it all! We all have our favorites and our veggies that we just can’t seem to hack like tomatoes. Boy, I wish I liked tomatoes.

“Why don’t you like tomatoes?” asks my stepdad, Mark Metzger.

This is an ongoing question every year when my momma and I make tomato sauce together. I love me some homemade sauce and ketchup. But if I get a hint of a real tomato, like if it accidentally gets into a salad I eat or something, YAKKKKK!! Nope. Nope. Nope.

Do you remember last week how I said I have a cute story to share about our dog Bear? God bless this dog. You seriously cannot find a more amazing dog — our 108 lb. black lab who just loves his momma and follows her everywhere. When we crawl into bed at night, he gets three chicken treats. If he doesn’t get three, he won’t leave. He will sit there and just stare at me with those big brown eyes and adorable elephant ears. *Ahh! He is so darn cute!*

If I run out of treats, I have to go back downstairs and grab him something, so it’s three treats. He isn’t loved or anything. Haha! So, Bear, he just isn’t a veggie fan, or fruit. If we drop something, like a blueberry, slice of cucumber, or something like that, he will walk over and sniff it. His thoughts, “YAKKKK. Nope. Nope. Nope. Where’s the steak!?” We always knew he was super fussy in that department and is strictly a carb and protein kinda pup. But, last week we learned something new.

I had made ranch pork chops and served them over egg noodles. We had peas and roasted veggies on the side. My husband and son mixed the peas in with the noodles. After dinner, Bear always gets scraps. He had noodles, little pieces of pork fat, and peas mixed in there. While we were cleaning up, I noticed his bowl. Bear ate everything except the peas. Meaning he licked around every little pea in the scraps we gave him. I am not talking about three peas. I am talking like 20 peas, just sitting at the bottom of his bowl. We were like, “Well, add one more veggie on Bear’s list that he doesn’t like!” The fact that this dog took the time to lick around all these small peas just to eat the noodles and pork just cracked us up!! I texted my mom a picture of the bowl with peas left on the bottom that night, saying, “We found another veggie Bear won’t eat!” She was saying how she and my stepdad were just cracking up at this.

See, Bear has been starting to go to Grammy and Pappy’s for dinner on Thursday night with us. One Thursday, Mom and I were on the phone, and Bear was next to me. I said, “Oh, what’s that, Bear? You want to go to Grammys tonight for dinner?” My mom said, “Tell Bear Bear he can come to Grammy’s tonight.” The following Thursday, my momma asked if Bear was going to come over for dinner again. This was two months ago. Now, this dog knows when it’s Thursday and that he goes to the farm for dinner! There he lays, right in between Pappy and Grammy, waiting on any leftovers. Anything besides the veggies! They just never realized how much this dog disliked anything on the healthy side until he started coming to family dinners with us. He knows he gets good food at Grammy and Pappy’s.

I wonder if he would eat peas if they were covered in steak juice or pork fat? Probably not. Just like us, humans, with vegetables. No matter how hard we try to like tomato or broccoli, sometimes, no matter what is done to it, it’s still broccoli or still a tomato. But let me tell you what, roasted veggies sure can taste amazing if cooked right! Roasted veggies are so delicious and a great way to get your vegetables in for lunch or dinner. You just need these few ingredients! They are hard not to love, and my kids beg for roasted broccoli! Well, all except for my four-legged child.
Roasted Veggies

Any kind of veggies you choose – I use broccoli, green beans, carrots, & red peppers.

Wash, rinse, and cut veggies and place them on a cookie sheet.

Drizzle over a little olive oil. You can use dashing salt, or my personal favorite is Tastefully Simple Seasoning Salt. Sprinkle seasoning over veggies, and then toss veggies with tongs. Bake at 375, tossing every 15-20 minutes for at least an hour. Bake till you get the consistency you like.