Cheesy Grits with Roasted Veggies

Being from the South, I could eat grits pretty much all day every day and be happy.  They're sooo good!  Matt and I usually eat them for brunch on the weekends, when he makes omelets and we sit on the couch watching Meet the Press or Jersey Shore or something (kind of diametrically opposed options, now that I think about it...).  He is a master omelet maker - I'm too impatient and always end up with scrambled eggs with stuff in them, but Matt really has the knack.  He's a keeper! 

So simple.  So good!

Anyway, I thought we should mix things up a bit yesterday and have cheesy grits for dinner.  CRAZY!  When it comes down to it, the essence of this recipe is remarkably similar to the polenta stuffed peppers I blogged about last month.  Both are basically a corn-based starch with cheese and veggies.  And both are delicious - how could you go wrong?  I decided to roast the veggies since it's pretty rainy and gross out today so grilling was not an option (for us).

Not worms.

Asparagus was one of those vegetables that I didn't really get into until recently.  We didn't have it much growing up, so I'm sure that's part of it, and then it took me a while to figure out that I like it.  It's not something I want every day, but it's definitely a nice change of pace, especially when it's all fresh and in season.  The white ones kind of freak me out - all I can hear is Mom saying, "They look like worms."  Fat ones, skinny ones, short ones, long ones, they all kind of look like worms.  Besides the asparagus, we had a whole slew of vegetables - a zucchini, a little bit of broccoli, onion, garlic - none quite enough to have on their own, but all ready to be cooked up together.  I tossed them with some olive oil, salt, pepper, and herbes de provence before plopping them in a 400 degree oven.

About to be popped in the oven!

After about 15-20 minutes, I started on the grits.  I stirred in some goat gouda that we had on hand, as well as some pepper, after the grits were ready. 

Dinner's ready!

Yum!

  The vegetables got all nicely caramelized in the oven, which I liked, and complemented the creamy, cheesy, grits-y goodness.  Although, as I said before, it's kind of hard for me to make grits and not like them.  So there's that.