Roasted Carrots

Ree Drummond?

One of my favorite bloggers and home of the best recipes ever?

If not, go here and check out her site and then let me know what you think of The Pioneer Woman. I’m sure you’ll say she’s grand, because she is.

I know she’s grand because she keeps me entertained with her witty and honest writing, gives out cooking supplies like Williams Sonoma is going out of business, and provides excellent directions for amazingly easy, yet delicious, food.

For Thanksgiving I was in charge of the vegetables. I decided to go with the classic green bean casserole, made with directions from the can of cream of mushroom soup. This dish has never been presented on our Thanksgiving table and due to the prodding of friends and coworkers I decided my family and I should try it at least once.

It was ok.

The second dish was roasted carrots with thyme from The Pioneer Woman’s cooking page. Turns out this fabulous side is courtesy of Pastor Ryan, a contributor to PW’s page.

Ah-mazing.

The carrots were a perfect fall dish, roasted just enough to bring out their sweet flavor but not too much to make them as mushy as mashed potatoes. The fresh thyme was a great herb to add, providing the dish with the depth and flavor it needed without being too overpowering.

Please excuse the colors. I was in my kitchen at night, trying to figure out what the best setting was for horrid lighting and orange colored food. This one turned out fluorescent orange.

A little too dull.

Just right? Well, it will do.

Everyone loved the carrots, and were surprised at how easy they were to make. The only ingredients needed were carrots, olive oil, salt, pepper and thyme. So simple, yet so scrumptious and wonderful mixed with mashed potatoes and gravy. Or a bite of turkey and cranberry. Or on their own, the next day, standing in the kitchen.

The Pioneer Woman’s Roasted Carrots (by Pastor Ryan)

12 Carrots

1 Handful of Fresh Thyme

1/4 Cup of Olive Oil

This should be just enough to fill up a baking sheet pan. Also, enough for 6-8 people.

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees

Carrots are not uniform in size. To help things cook evenly, we’ll need to cut these carrots into a uniform size for even cooking. This will prevent some carrots from being too crunchy and some from being too mushy. Cutting them lengthwise does the trick.

There is no need to peel your carrots ~~if you’re lazy like me~~ as long as you wash them well.

Once you’ve split your carrots down the middle into similar sizes, you can lay them out on a sheet pan and drizzle them with olive oil.

Season with thyme, salt, and pepper.

Bake in a 400 degree oven for 35-40 minutes.

For the full recipe plus pictures and even more (and funny) commentary go here.