Thanksgiving: Roasted Potatoes and Carrots

Even though we were already having the traditional mashed potatoes (the one thing my husband made from peeling to the final product, with lots of butter and perfectly salted), I wanted to add some roasted fingerling potatoes (red, white and blue colored) which are super tasty.

Adding sweet potatoes and carrots added a nice autumn orange color, and along with the blue potatoes it just added a nice splash of color to the entire meal, not to mention a nice splash of taste.

I chopped up fresh herbs from my garden - rosemary, sage, thyme and marjoram. Mixed in olive oil along with a little finely chopped garlic, salt and pepper. I prepared it all the night before and just put it in the 400°F oven for about 40 minutes until they were crisp on the outside. I did stir it about half way through so it can brown more evenly.

Herbs from my garden

Living in Northern California many herbs can thrive well into the early winter. Rosemary is not affected by the cold weather but even if I lose a few leaves of the other plants in December/January, by March I have fresh leaves again.

My father used these same herbs to season the turkey he made for our Thanksgiving dinner and it was quite tasty - but you only tasted it if you were lucky enough to get one of the outer slices of turkey meat.

Back to the potatoes... here they are in the pan ready the night before because I knew I wouldn't have time to prep them the day of. Actually, it worked out well because they "marinated" over night and really infused the potatoes with flavor.

The only caution I would give is that all of these potatoes cook at a different rate so the textures varied. The blue potatoes ended up a bit dry and tough - pretty to look at but not the tastiest IMO. The sweet potatoes cook quickly and did not crisp - they were on the soft/mushy side, but I didn't mind and they tasted great.

Spring Thyme!

Woodland Brown 1 quart
Originally uploaded by love_yellow

Thyme is my favorite herb in my garden. It's easy to grow and versatile in cooking - goes well in many dishes. This time of the year my thyme plants are thriving and the fresh spring leaves are beautiful and tasty.

Recently I learned some cool things about thyme I didn't know before.

Did you know...
- Thyme is native to areas such as Asia, southern Europe and the Mediterranean region.

- It retains its flavor on drying better than many other herbs. As a rule of thumb, use one third as much dried as fresh thyme, a little less if it is ground.

- Either in its fresh or dried form, should be added toward the end of the cooking process since heat can easily cause a loss of its delicate flavor.

- 20-54% of thyme leaves contain Thymol, which is an antiseptic and is the main active ingredient in Listerine mouthwash. Before the advent of modern antibiotics it was used to medicate bandages.

- The ancient Egyptians used it as an embalming agent to preserve their deceased pharaohs.

I'm fascinated by all the great things I learned about this herb from www.wikipedia.com and www.whfoods.org. I've gained a whole new respect for this plant and will be more mindful of it's power when I'm gardening or cooking with it.

About the photo
A friend gave me a thyme plant a couple of years ago which I planted in my garden. It has been thriving ever since, and I think of her every time I see the plant. In this photo is the batch I had to prune to keep the plant healthy. I kept it in my fridge for almost 2 weeks - used for cooking, added to salads and gave some to neighbors. A gift that keeps on giving.