Roasted Eggplant with Garlic and Olive Oil

This seemed like a wonderful night for roast chicken. We will often pick up a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store and pair it with a salad for a busy weeknight dinner. Elizabeth was sick again today, so, I was home and could take the time to roast a chicken here. It came out so succulent and delicious! The market had some beautiful garnet sweet potatoes the other day and the eggplant looked fantastic. I wanted something to combine the two for a new side dish. The product was a scrumptuous roasted vegetable trio. The eggplant roasted just long enough that the coating ingredients had just begun to carmellize. Oh my! What a glorious combination of textures and flavors. The house smelled like home. All I need is a dance around the kitchen to make it perfect!
HomeStyle Roast Chicken
5 lb chicken- rinsed
Place the chicken in a roasting pan.
Sprinkle over the entire top of the chicken: garlic powder, salt, pepper, and paprika.
Give it a little spritz with Bragg's Liquid Aminos- this tastes like a light soy sauce.
Roast at 350 degrees for about an hour and a half.

Oven Roasted Eggplant and Sweet Potatoes with Garlic and Olive Oil
1 large eggplant
juice of 1 lemon
3 medium garnet sweet potatoes
2 large carrots
4 cloves garlic or more if you like
1/4 cup olive oil
salt and pepper
1 Tablespoon thick sweet soy sauce
1 Tablespoon Braggs Liquid Aminos or soy sauce
1 teaspoon garlic powder
Peel the eggplant and chop into 1 inch chunks. Place in a bowl with 1 teaspoon salt, lemon juice and fill with water to cover the eggplant. Cover with a papertowel. Press the paper towel down into the water to completely soak it. Let eggplant sit while you prepare the sweet potatoes.
Peel and chop the sweet potatoes and carrots into 1 inch pieces. Place the chopped sweet potatoes and carrots into a large ziploc bag. Pour 2 Tablespoons of the olive oil over the top and squish it around to coat all of the pieces. Peel and chop the garlic coarsely and add to the bag. Moosh it around to disperse.
Drain the eggplant and press a bit to remove as much of the liquid as possible. Add the eggplant to the bag along with the remaining olive oil, salt, pepper, thick soy and Bragg's or soy sauce. Move all of the vegetables around together to coat completely. Pour out onto a greased sheet pan. Roast in a 325 or 350 degree oven- depending on what you are cooking with it- for about an hour. Sprinkle with a little bit of salt and serve warm. You can mash it a bit and add a little more olive oil to make a thick dip/spread for bread.