These Agave Roasted Red Potatoes are a simple yet delicious side dish suitable for any meal. Literally! You could serve these alongside some grilled tofu and a kale salad or as part of a fancy dinner party. Heck, these would be great for Thanksgiving too! They’re sweet, but not too sweet (thank you, chili powder!), and you can make them as crispy as you like.
So, this is pretty cool. About a month ago I was walking along a trail (I’m not going to say where, the reason for which I’ll explain in a minute) when I glance up into a tree and happen to see an owl. A great horned owl, to be precise. I can’t even remember the last time I had seen an owl, let alone in broad daylight, so I stood there for at least 10 minutes just watching him from a respectful distance. He was awesome.
I didn’t spot him again until 2 weeks later, this time he was with his mate! Great horned owls mate for life, which is really neat. I’ve actually become a bit of an expert on these amazing birds. For instance, did you know that their average life span in the wild is only 13 years, yet in captivity they can live for more than 28 years? It’s very sad that up to 86% of GHO deaths are caused by mankind (shooting and trapping, hit by cars, electrocuted by high power lines).
This past Sunday I was meandering by and saw the one adult owl, and as I was admiring him I saw movement just below him, where I then saw two owlets! Baby owls! So cute! This is a terrible picture that I snapped with my iphone:
It’s terribly fuzzy but you can see how the two babies are snuggled up to each other. The one on the right kind of looks like a puppy, haha.
I went back last night with my “big girl camera” (this is the dramatic part of the story)… I saw one of the adults, but no sign of the juveniles. I stayed quite far from the tree the adult was in, assuming the owlets were in the same one. I was circling it, looking for them while keeping an eye on Mama (or was it Daddy?) when allofasudden I look up and right in front of me is one of the owlets! It was so close I almost could’ve touched it! But I’m not crazy, and I saw the wings start to flap so I turned and crouched and got the heck out of there as quickly as I could. I don’t want any owl talons in me! And I felt horrible for inadvertently disturbing them. I would never have gotten so close if I realized where the birds were. From now on, I’m staying on the path!
I did manage to snap a picture though! Isn’t he beautiful!? Not sure how how old he/she is, but it’s definitely a juvenile so it must’ve been born earlier this spring.
Here’s Mama/Daddy. You don’t need to be an owl mind reader to know what he’s thinking…
In case you’re wondering why I made a point of not sharing the location of this trail, it’s because of idiots like this. You suck, Gazette.
Agave Roasted Red Potatoes (4 side servings)
Ingredients:
- 1 lb red potatoes
- 1/4 white onion
- 3.5 Tablespoons agave
- 1 teaspoon mustard powder
- 1/2 teaspoon+ chili powder (more to taste!)
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- a couple pinches of freshly ground black pepper
- 3 Tablespoons vegan butter, melted
Directions:
- Wash the potatoes and cut into large bite-sized chunks. Chop the onion as well, somewhere between a dice and a chop (a large dice?) and set both aside.
- In a medium bowl mix the remaining ingredients together until completely blended. Add potatoes and onions and mix until coated.
- Spray an 11×17 baking dish with non-stick spray and pour in the potato mix. Bake at 375 until the taters are tender, 30-40 minutes, stirring two or three times during. Give another sprinkle of sea salt before serving.
Enjoy!
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Can you imagine what these people would do, if I were to just walk up to their baby carriage, poking and prodding it to get a reaction from their infant. Jeez people are stupid! I just want to go smack them all upside of the head!… Sorry, still working on that “joyful vegan” thing. Maybe you can help by luring me away from the idiots with a big bowl of those yummy looking potatoes! 🙂
“Joyful Vegan” is a process… and possibly one that allows for smacking owl-harassing idiots!!
Amazing and wonderful, Barb, to be treated to rare glimpses like that. Can’t blame you at all for keeping the location private. People are jerks.
We’re thrilled to have a barn owl pair (do they mate for life??) with chicks in our (duh!) barn. We can hear the chicks sometimes chattering and the parents usually sit in the rafters during the day – probably to get away from the kids ;-). I’m sure they wonder why we stop and stare at them all of the time!
Barn owls DO mate for life, unless their environment comes under threat (how sad is that?). I wish I had a barn just so I could have owls in it! I love owls!
OMG, that is a breathtaking photo, Barb. They would make a beautiful painting!
I’m so jealous that you got to see them. I love owls and to see a GHO in person, in the wild would just be amazing. It’s so sad that people think they have the right to invade the space of any creature. I don’t think the Gazette was really wrong in publishing the story about the owls. When going to a state park you can often find a list of animals that have been spotted and where at the visitor’s center. But The Gazette did a very poor job of trying to defend their position by comparing the location of baby owls to a great new restaurant. WTF does one have to do with the other? They can’t be held responsible for the action of all the idiots but they should take initiative to add in the column a plea for visitors to be respectful and make them aware of the consequences.
Oh, and great recipe btw 🙂
They are so stunning, I cannot believe you just happened upon them while walking out in the woods- so beautiful and they look so powerful at the same time!
I love animals that mate for life- Cardinals are the same and they come back to the same nesting spot every year 🙂