The other day my husband was reading me an article about how many nutrients are in the skins of root vegetables. I often peel my root veggies but I hate the thought of missing out on some nutrients, lightbulb moment…what about if I roast the skins and eat them as a garnish?  People certainly do that with potato skins and those are yummy. And so this idea was born…though when I google it now I see others have had the same brilliant idea…but it is new for me, and I am loving it! Makes me feel sad for all of the veggie peels I have tossed into the compost pile…or worse yet, in the garbage over the years! I have tried parsnips so far, but am pretty sure this will work well with carrots and sweet potato skins, both of which I produce regularly. Next time you are making a dish that calls for peeled carrots, sweet potatoes, potatoes or parsnips try this out!

Crispy Veggie Curls

• Wash your veggies thoroughly.
• Peel the veggies with a hand held peeler…I love this one. Try varying the size length and width of the peel slices to find the size you like.
• Use the peeled veggie in another recipe. I love to dovetail my cooking so I would roast the parsnips as coins or sticks in the oven drizzled with olive oil at 425 at the same time and then eat those with a meal and or freeze them in single servings for my freezer stash.  That is just what I did for this meal above….ate them with this bowl and froze 2 servings in single serving freezer safe mason jars for a future salad or plate.
• Place your veggie peels on a parchment lined baking sheet.
• Drizzle generously with olive oil or your favorite cooking fat…I bet duck fat or brown butter ghee would be amazing.
• Season if you like…or not.  I like a sprinkle of smoked sea salt on just about everything!
• Roast at 425 til the edges start to brown. This took 5-10 minutes in my oven, but could vary quite a bit from oven to oven, so check on them every few minutes as once it starts it happens quickly.
• Use them as a garnish on top of a meal or salad, or just eat them as a snack. So good!