Carmen Eats Clean: Grilled Vegetables

Yes, Carmen is trying to eat clean. Note that 'trying' is the key word.

So the day before I went to Ben's General Food Store to check on their 50% off produce. Being the Asian that I am (and having a frugal mom), I was happy to see brinjals priced at RM2! I think that's pretty worth it for 3 moderately sized brinjals, right? Got some mushrooms and baby spinach too.

This didn't turn out as 'clean' as I wanted to because the amount of olive oil I had to mix with each batch of vegetables going in the oven was probably excessive, but I didn't want it to stick to the foil! I put too little oil the first round and my julienned brinjal pieces stuck to the foil.

I followed this recipe (not really a recipe, more of a tutorial lol). I know putting vegetables in an oven isn't rocket science. But I am horrible at cooking and I wasn't going to take any chances.

Some Tapping Tapir soda to cool off the heat

I used crushed garlic-infused olive oil to lubricate the vegetables. Added salt, pepper, dried oregano and parsley (expired, but still usable I guess?) for seasoning. And screw using a basting brush, I didn't have one.

Before I put my vegetables in the oven, I googled thoroughly on how long I should leave the vegetables in the oven for. In the end, I gave up on following online instructions. I felt that it's mostly trial and error, and from your own observation. Also depending on your oven. I used a pathetic toaster oven! Small, but does the job (very inefficiently I might add, it took me almost 3 hours to grill all my vegetables). Different vegetables have different cooking times, and not to mention I didn't cut them all the exact same way. The longer you let it grill, the more caramelized (therefore, sweeter) it is. But you also run the risk of burning your vegetables like I did!

The end result:

Mmmmm. I like the taste of grilled, caramelized vegetables. I almost burnt my baby carrots from leaving it in the oven too long, but it came out sweet and juicy. The mushrooms were in a separate bowl so it was left out in the picture. But those tasted good too :)

So there you have it. I usually can't cook to save my life. I previously made tuna sandwiches and instant noodles, and it tasted disgusting. Grilled vegetables however... not bad! If I had a much bigger oven, I would roast/grill them more frequently.