It’s First Friday – Festival of Lights in Downtown – and a little warm, rainy and muggy! Oh, North Carolina?! But, it’s quite pleasant at home on Mendenhall with my Christmas Tree up – so I think I’ll do some hibernation tonight and enjoy the peace at home. We’ll be celebrating “Everything!” tomorrow night for the first day of Hanukah – look forward to some great recipes for snacks and sips to work into your holiday gatherings. In the meantime… here are a couple more recipes for holiday sides that will be simple, easy and festive for your holiday gatherings. And, I promise, this is the last brussels sprout recipe of 2012!

Really good roasted vegetable side dishes are the easiest part of completing a well-rounded holiday meal. Root vegetables are in plenty this time of year – and with a splash for olive oil, salt and pepper – you can have a delicious dish with little effort and time. Of course, you can jazz up a roasted vegetable with a variety of dried herbs, fresh rosemary and little bits of ham or fruits.

My mom and I put together two simple roast vegetable dishes to accompany the Braised Lamb Shanks and Polenta for our Thanksgiving Un-Turkey Feast. We roasted both at about 375 degrees for about a half-hour. There isn’t much science to this – so turn it up to 400 or keep it at 350 if you’ve got something else in the oven.

Citrus Glazed Carrots – whole or stubby carrots tossed with olive oil, lemon juice (or orange!), honey and salt/pepper. Dress them like a salad and roast until tender.

Dried Apricot and Country Ham Sherry Brussels Sprouts – halved dried apricots, chunky bits of country ham, halved brussels sprouts tossed in good sherry vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper. Roasted about 30 minutes and laid flat on a cookie sheet.