Yummy Autumn Veggies (with a twist)!

You might remember that last fall I went on a roasted-tuber-tear, living on a diet of almost exclusively sweet potatoes, yukon golds, beets, brussel sprouts, and squash; roasted merrily together with some garlic and olive oil until irresistibly delicious (approx. 30-45 minutes in a 375 degree oven). Surprisingly, this fall looks like it may be no different, with one little twist added into the mix.

Mummy recently turned me onto a recipe for roasted vegetables that is positively terrific and just as easy...

• Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
• Take all of the usual suspects (any kind of tuber-- turnip, parsnip, beets, squash of all sizes, carrots, potatoes, you name it! I also love adding brussel sprouts!) then prep and peel. (I like to leave the skin on the potatoes and sweet potatoes so it crisps up a bit, plus it makes things a tad healthier...)
• Chop into relatively uniform sizes, so that you end up with about 4-5 cups of veggies. 
• Whisk together 1/4 cup of olive oil with 3/4 cup of good quality maple syrup (the better the syrup, the better the flavor, so don't cheap out here. This is NOT the time for Aunt Jemima!) 
• Season mixture with salt & pepper and then pour chopped vegetables into this mixture and gently toss until coated. 
• Pour into one or two large shallow oven pans so that you can spread the vegetables out without having them overlap onto eachother. 
•  Bake at 375 degrees for 30-50 minutes, checking and gently flipping the vegetables every 15 minutes to make sure they don't get overly crisp. 

Note: It's important to keep an eye on these as they cook! Burned tubers just taste like burned flavor. Highly disappointing... I'm coming from an informed place here! 

This makes a wonderful side dish all through the autumn and winter, serving 3-4 people. There are a couple of yummy sounding variations on this recipe which I have yet to explore... adding grainy mustard or balsamic vinegar to the mixture... both of which sound pretty delish. I'll report back!