Mustard-and-Maple Roasted Root Veggies

Ahh... root veggies. My Mom's garden provides almost more of these goodies than we can eat, but I'm not one to pass up free food, so my vegetable bin is stuffed.

Consequently, I'm always on the lookout for different ways to use parsnips, turnips, beets, onions and/or carrots in recipes that my kids will like. No easy feat, but sometimes I hit on something that works.
This combination, oddly enough, has turned out to be a favorite. I say "oddly enough" because I am not a mustard fan and rarely use it in recipes. Apparently my kids like it though. Who knew.

**Even though I'm not a mustard fan it is a good flavor contrast here, to the sweet maple syrup and veggies. AND if you really don't like mustard, just leave it out, it's really good without too.

Oven Roasted Maple Veggies

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1/4 cup maple syrup
2 tbsp Dijon mustard ** (See note above)
1/2 tsp garlic powder
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

1/2 cup coarsely chopped onion or 20 pearl onions, peeled
5 cups coarsely chopped or sliced veggies of your choice; turnips, parsnips, rutabaga, carrot, potato, yams, beets and/or golden beets.

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Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Toss veggies and onions with the olive oil, salt and pepper on a baking pan.
Roast in oven for 20 minutes, then remove and re-toss on baking sheet.
Cook 15 minutes more. Toss again.
Cook another 15 min. Combine maple syrup, Dijon mustard and garlic powder in a small bowl.
Drizzle the maple mixture over potatoes and veggies and mix to coat well. Cook again until veggies (beets and potatoes will take the longest) are soft and glaze starts to caramelize and brown a bit.
Serve and enjoy!

Ruby Roasted Veggies

I've had a vegetable crisper full of odd veggies that needed to be used yesterday or hopefully before they became science experiments in mold growth.


I don't use a lot of turnips or sweet potatoes in everyday cooking, even though I like them a lot, I guess I just haven't been feeling too inspired lately.


So, I took the veggies, cleaned them, cut into odd pieces and threw in a roasting pan with some olive oil, lemon pepper, minced garlic and herbs from the garden. Poured about 1/2 cup veggie broth and 1/2 cup white wine over everything, covered with foil and baked at 400 degrees.


45 minutes later I removed the foil, then baked another 20 min or so...


I had a luscious pan of oven-roasted veggies, all stained brilliant magenta from the beets.

Everything mellowed and tasted toasty-sweet and the flavors blended wonderfully.

I was surprised. My kids LOVED the veggies and seriously licked the pan clean!