Ditch the strict diet resolution and opt for some light, vegetable-forward comfort food instead

I’m not much for making resolutions on Jan. 1. It feels like a setup for failure. Of course, it’s great to set intentions to try to be a better you. But the old “I’ll lose ten pounds by February,” or “I won’t eat any sugar or drink any alcohol until April” just doesn’t work for me. Every time I attempt to set a bunch of New Year’s resolutions in place, it backfires.

It all starts to feel like a vicious cycle. We gorge through the holidays — eating fatty meat, cheese, cream, sugar and chocolate — and then we swear off them in January, promising to be “good.” The terms “good” and “bad” aren’t particularly helpful when it comes to eating and good health. I find it far more effective to focus on eating more vegetables and whole grains in January to jump-start the new year and experience a feeling of “lightening up.”

With that thought in mind, here are three new vegetable-forward dishes. This is by no means what you might think of as “diet food,” but a refocusing of what is front and center on your plate. They do use some olive oil, a little butter and some cheese, but mostly, these vegetable-forward dishes are bursting with flavor. I know it’s not always easy to get excited about vegetables in the depth of winter. But, as these three dishes prove, it’s certainly possible.

The first dish is a whole roasted cauliflower. You roast the cauliflower in a large ovenproof skillet — preferably cast iron which really holds the heat — and…