2 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed
4 medium carrots, peeled and cut into 1" pieces
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
2. Coat potatoes and carrots with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.
3. Put vegetables in a baking dish and bake under tender, occasionally shuffling to prevent sticking, about 30 minutes.

Makes 4 servings

2 chicken breasts, halved
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
6 sun-dried tomatoes
1/2 cup boiling water
6 cloves roasted garlic
1 tablespoon flour
1 tablespoon butter
3/4 cup milk (optional)

1. Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add the olive oil, then the chicken.
2. Soak the sun-dried tomatoes in boiling water until hydrated, then remove and chop finely.
3. Melt butter in a small sauce pan and whisk in flour. Add milk, bring to a boil and reduce if a thinner sauce is desired.
4. Stir in roasted garlic, sun-dried tomatoes and residual hot water to the butter and flour.
5. Top chicken breasts with prepared sauce to serve.

Makes 2 servings

1-1/2 cups lima beans
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tablespoon butter, softened
1 tablespoon heavy cream
salt and pepper
water

1 slice whole wheat bread, crusts removed
1/2 teaspoon sage
1 tablespoon olive oil
salt and pepper

1. Boil salted water and add lima beans. Cook until tender.
2. Meanwhile, slice bread into equal sized squares, brush with olive oil and season with sage, salt and pepper.
3. Lightly fry the bread over medium heat in a non-stick skillet until golden brown, then flip and fry the other side. You could also bake them, if you like.
4. Once lima beans are cooked, drain them and transfer them to a food processor.
5. Pulse lima beans with garlic, butter, salt and pepper until pureed.
6. Serve puree topped with croutons and a splash of heavy cream.

Makes 2 servings

I subscribe to an idea that if anything is edible, there's probably a way to make it taste good. Sure, some things have to be horribly disguised or rendered into a completely different form, but with enough attempts with pretty much anything; you're bound to find a means of preparation that's suited to your palette. Take lima beans, for example. Sure, they're bland and green and round and typically boring, but add a clove of garlic and puree them in a blender and you've actually got something that's quite good. Maybe add something extra to add a different dimension and you've actually got a very decent dish. Lima Bean Puree with Sage Croutons might be for you if you've never had a fondness for lima beans, yet never tried them out of their typical boiled pod fare. In need of a second side I simply made some Roasted Potatoes and Carrots. You can never go wrong with roasted vegetables.

I've always had a fondness for roasted garlic and sun-dried tomatoes because it's one of my first true culinary realizations. When I first started finding out about things like that; pesto, roasted red peppers and so on, it was then that I realized that there was more to food than meat, vegetables and salt. It would stand to reason then that I've also carried on a penchant for their flavors and make every effort to incorporate them into meals. That isn't the case. In fact, ever since I had a roasted garlic soup that made me ill for several consecutive days and perhaps ate one too many sun-dried tomatoes in a pasta dish, I've sort of stepped back and appreciated them from a distance. Yet whenever I'm backed into a corner and need to come up with a recipe, it seems like a good idea to throw one or both of these into a dish and call it gourmet cuisine.

Chicken with Sun-dried Tomato and Roasted Garlic Sauce is actually more like chicken with a sun-dried tomato gravy. There are plenty of ways to remedy this, such as adding cream, yogurt, olive oil, butter or stock and so on, but I didn't. I left it all in this extremely potent mash of roasted garlic and tomato prune flavor and every bite was like a gigantic slap in the face. It's just too much for me now, I must be getting old. What I would like to point out is that both sun-dried tomatoes and roasted garlic are low-fat, low-carb, very nutritious and extremely flavorful. You can add them to a dish and omit salt because of their potency, and you can add them to pretty much any type of dish (perhaps even dessert, but I'm afraid to try.)