Fabulous Fall Colors, Fantastic Fall Vegetables

We're knee deep in Autumn; by now the leaves have changed to a rainbow of colors and are falling all around us. Halloween brought critters in costume, marching through piles of leaves and pumpkins, and wandering away full of sugar. It's my favorite time of year for many reasons, but not the least of which is I get a cheap thrill out of eating food that matches the landscape around me. The Fall food color-scape is a bevy of rich jewel tones--vibrant reds, brilliant yellows, energetic oranges.

Root vegetables and those that grow low to the ground thrive this time of year, so fill your plates with potatoes, beets, carrots, squashes, and onions. Today's recipe throws another fall flavor--apple--into the mix and gives this dish even more depth. I served mine with some roasted chicken over brown rice but you could easily make this a vegetarian meal or a Thanksgiving side dish as well. Even better, roast a chicken in the middle of this sea of root vegetables and baste with extra apple cider.

Apple Cider Roasted Root Vegetables
--5 whole garlic cloves
--1/2 large onion
--2 medium sized beets, washed and greens removed
--1 honey crisp or gala apple, cored
--5 small potatoes (or more if you use fingerling potatoes)
--3 medium-large sized carrots, scrubbed and greens removed
--fresh sage
--(optional) 4-5 small tomatoes
--2 TBSP olive oil
--salt & pepper to taste
--4 TBSP apple cider

Roughly chop all the vegetables (except for the garlic, leave that whole) and the apple into chunks. If you opt for small tomatoes, leave those whole (as pictured) so the skins come off easier. Using your hands, rip the sage into large pieces.

Place all the vegetables and the sage into a plastic bag. Pour in the olive oil and shake vigorously to coat all the vegetables. Sprinkle a little salt and crack a little black pepper into the bag. Again, move the items all around so the salt and pepper do a little disco on the mixture.

Pour the contents of the bag into a glass oven-safe dish. Pour the apple cider evenly over the mix. Bake at 400 degrees until vegetables are tender, tomatoes are soft and skins come off easily, and potatoes begin to get a lovely brown crust (45-ish minutes). It's okay if things are a little pink, that's just the beets sharing the love.

Eat!

Dammit Jim, I'm a cook, not a doctor...
Time: 55 minutes
Servings: 6
Calories: 189 per serving