Roasted Fall Root Vegetables

Maybe you've started thinking about what you are going to make for Thanksgiving. Here is a good idea that will help you split from the normal roasted carrots or sweet potatoes, roasted root vegetables. It is also very pretty. It is important to slice all the vegetables to the same size. The size, doesn't really matter, as you just want to ensure that they are cooking all at the same rate.

1 bag parsnips, peeled and sliced

4 carrots, peeled and sliced

1 turnip, peeled and sliced

1 rutabaga, peeled and sliced

1 large onion, sliced (or white or red pearl onions whole with the outer covering removed)

4 cloves garlic, chopped (or halved for pretty presentation)

1 sweet potato, peeled and sliced

3 small red potatoes, scrubbed and sliced

Mixed dried herbs (rosemary, pepper, salt, marjoram, savory, thyme...)

olive oil

1. Preheat oven to 330 degrees.

2. in a mixing bowl mix all the root vegetable slices with the onion and garlic.

3. pour in enough oil to coat the vegetables.

4. mix in the spices and herbs so that they are sticking to the oil and coating the vegetables enough to look like the picture. (I didn't measure, so I have no clue how much I added.) This would be a hard step to mess up.

5. pour the mix into a large deep baking dish, and cover

6. roast in the oven for at least 2 hours (I think I cooked it more, but I can't remember)

Special Notes: check on your dish every 1/2 hr to mix it up a bit and possibly add more oil if it looks too dry. Taste a piece here and there to see if it is cooked the way you prefer. Some people like extremely overdone root vegetables, others prefer them to maintain a little crunch. By monitoring the progress you can have them just the way you like them, although there is no guarantee that your husband will not say "I think the carrots are too crunchy" :)