Move beyond potatoes with flavorful, oven-roasted veggies

Vegetables are good for you. Right?

Absolutely.

What's your favorite vegetable? If you picked potato, I wouldn't be surprised, since by far it's the most popular and the one that most guys and kids eat enthusiastically.

Yet the most popular way to eat potatoes includes a dip in an unhealthy deep fryer.

Don't get me wrong, potatoes are good for you. A medium potato (about 7.5 ounces) delivers 164 calories, and, if served with the skin, brings almost 5 grams of fiber to your plate. Plus a potato provides all sorts of nutrients, like vitamin C. In fact a potato supplies 50 percent of the daily Recommended Dietary Allowance. Who knew?

However, dining on potatoes every night just won't cut it. Consuming potatoes as one part of a wide variety of nutrient-dense vegetables, now that's healthy.

But how do you get picky eaters (kids and some husbands among them) to settle for broccoli, carrots or green beans?

For kids, start young and make different vegetables a part of a rotating food plan. I know I would probably not be eating cauliflower, asparagus, acorn squash, rutabaga or Brussels sprouts today if my parents and grandparents hadn't insisted on including them in the food plans.

Guys … well, guys are another story. Rare is the guy who'll eagerly jump from potatoes to parsnips. No matter how you fancy 'em up, rutabagas and Brussels sprouts shouldn't be the first vegetables to get a guy to try. I suggest starting with asparagus, mushrooms or sweet potatoes instead.

Although not filled with lean recipes, James Peterson's "Vegetables" is an excellent recipe resource as is the just-released "How to Cook Everything Vegetarian" by Mark Bittman. Bittman brought us best-selling "The Best Recipes in the World" and can show even kitchen novices how to ramp up the appeal of vegetables.

For added flavor, consider roasting vegetables as described in November's Fine Cooking magazine. Author Jennifer Armentrout offers these four tips for successful vegetable roasting:

• Roast in a very hot (475 degrees) oven, to keep cooking times reasonable. Some vegetables (like sweet potato chunks) can roast in as quickly as 15-20 minutes; none go over 35. The high heat also browns (caramelizes) vegetable's edges, adding flavor.

• Cutting vegetables into even sizes helps ensure they'll all be done at the same time.

• Line the roasting pan (usually a jelly roll pan or a half-sheet pan) with parchment to keep vegetables from sticking or line with foil lightly sprayed with vegetable oil.

• Rather than distributing vegetables evenly over the entire pan, arrange them toward the pan's edge for better browning.

I like to dress my vegetables with a drizzle of fat-free margarine spread, or a spritz or two of butter-flavored vegetable oil sprays, a little kosher salt and a little fresh ground black pepper (or, for added heat, a little cayenne pepper). Many vegetables, whether roasted, steamed or boiled, taste great with a light dusting of finely grated parmesan cheese.

Try this recipe: If you've never done it before, try my recipe for oven-roasted broccoli and see how easy, fast and delicious it can be.

Note that while I do my best to share recipes that get less than 30 percent of their calories from fat, it's very difficult to do with vegetables since many are high in water content and low in calories (Broccoli provides just 48 calories here). Even a small amount of oil (which gets 100 percent of its calories from fat) or a cheese-like parmesan (61 percent of calories) seems to supply an inordinate amount of fat.

A generous serving of my broccoli delivers just 5.5 fat grams and less than 100 calories, even with cheese and olive oil. Add lean meat and a salad with fat-free or low-fat dressing and you have a healthy meal.

If you like this, then look for other oven-roasted vegetable recipes. You may find your family clamoring for more than just potatoes.

Roasted Broccoli with Parmesan

1½ pounds broccoli

2 tablespoons olive oil

½ teaspoon (or to taste) kosher salt

Fresh ground black pepper

¼ cup (1 ounce) fresh grated parmesan cheese

Place an oven rack in the center position and heat the oven to 475 degrees. Line a jelly roll or half sheet pan with parchment or foil lightly sprayed with vegetable oil.

Rinse broccoli under cold water, trim the ends and peel the stems. Slice stems into ¼-inch-thick rounds up to just below where the stem starts to branch out into the top. Split the stems in half all the way through the top. If stems are thick, cut into quarters.

In a medium bowl, whisk oil, salt and pepper together. Add broccoli to bowl and toss until coated. Lay broccoli pieces evenly in prepared pan, positioning pieces nearer the pan's edge. Roast 8-10 minutes or until broccoli tops begin to brown.

Carefully remove pan from oven, turn broccoli pieces over and roast 3-6 minutes more, or until tender. Divide among serving plates, dust each serving with parmesan cheese and serve immediately.

Serves four.

Nutrition values per serving: 98 calories (50.8 percent from fat), 5.5 g fat (1.4 g saturated fat), 9.3 g carbohydrates, 4.4 g fiber, 6 g protein, 4 mg cholesterol, 280 mg sodium.