So, we’re invited to one of my best friend’s houses for Christmas dinner. There will be an abundance of food: roast lamb, buttery mashed potatoes, and a few other no doubt delicious dishes, followed by a lot of chocolate cake.

And while my husband is ecstatic about the menu (did I mention roast lamb), the vegetarian spouse a.k.a. me, is thinking, “Hmmmm, what will I have for dinner?”

Since this is one of my best friends, she’s given me more than enough warning as to the menu, and I’ve offered up a roasted root vegetable concoction that will work as my main and a side for the other diners. I’m also going to bring along a small salad, big enough to share if needed….

We’ll get to that recipe in a second. I’m also bringing a holiday Challah that I baked last night, a nod to our concurrent Hanukkah celebration.

I use our trusty Black&Decker bread machine to prepare the dough, following their recipe with a few modifications.

Here’s what I do:

Ingredients:

3/4 cup water

1 egg (yep, I use an egg in spite of my vegan tendencies…. haven’t tried any of the vegan challah recipes yet, but will eventually)

3 tbs coconut oil (the recipe calls for shortening)

3 tbsp agave (the recipe calls for sugar)

1 tsp salt

2-1/2 cups white flour

1-1/4 tsp bread machine yeast

1/4 cup raisins

Follow the bread machine directions, then braid (I use three pieces to braid, not the six that seems to require a lot more coordination), cover and let rise for 30 minutes, and then bake at 350F for 30 to 35 minutes. (The recipe calls for an egg yolk glaze; I brush on a bit of olive oil.)

I made two of these loaves last night; one to bring to dinner tonight, and one for us to enjoy. I wasn’t sure how the coconut oil would work out, so about five minutes after I took it out of the oven, we just had to test it. It was excellent.

Now back to those vegetables. I used a wide variety, as follows:

*this is the “before” picture…

Ingredients (for what I hope will serve 6 – 8 people as a side dish):

2 – 3 large shallots, cut into quarters

8 cloves of garlic

1 large turnip, peeled, washed and cut into chunks

10 brussels sprouts, washed well and cut into halves

10 small sunchokes (Jerusalem artichokes), scrubbed well and cut into halves

3 small carrots, peeled, washed and cut into chuns

2 large yams, peeled, washed and cut into chunks

about 1/4 cup olive oil

sea salt

black pepper

herbs de Provence (Rosemary is the usual herb for this, but I didn’t realize I didn’t have any on hand…)

How:

pre-heat oven to 380F

I used two glass baking dishes,  and added the vegetables in the order above. Then I split the oil between the two dishes, and tossed the vegetables, to make sure all were coated evenly.

I added a pinch of salt, a few cranks of the pepper mill, and another pinch of herbs de Provence into each dish.

Bake for an hour or so, until the vegetables are tender, stirring the mixture a couple of times.

Enjoy!

* this is the “after” picture.