Autumn Vegetable Medley

Cool weather and the first hints of fall color are here. I know many of you look forward to autumn. I took advantage of the fall vegetables that have shown up in the farmers market and on the store shelves for this recipe (plus the cooler weather makes using the oven bearable again!). If beets or parsnips aren't your thing, try substituting potatoes or carrots instead. This recipe is extremely easy, but you'll want to plan about 15-20 minutes to chop all the vegetables before you start. Once that's done though, this dish doesn't take too much more work so you can work on other things while these are roasting in the oven (multi-taskers unite!). Ingredients: 1/3 cup red wine 4 parsnips, cleaned, unpeeled, cut into 1/2 inch thick diagonal slices 1 medium onion, roughly chopped 4 cloves garlic, chopped 2 cups diced butternut squash 1 cup cleaned and unpeeled diced raw beets 1/4 cup canned chick peas, drained 2 tablespoons olive oil 1/2 teaspoon ground thyme 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt 1/4 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper (or coarse ground) 1/2 cup roughly chopped beet greens 1/2 cup spinach leaves 1/4 cup shredded parmesan cheese Directions: Preheat oven to 400 degrees Place parsnips, onion, garlic, butternut squash, beets, and chick peas in a large casserole dish. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle on the ground thyme, salt and pepper. Stir everything together until all the vegetables are coated with the oil and spices. Roast in the oven for 15 minutes, stir, then roast for another 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and stir in the wine. Then place back in the oven and roast an additional 10-15 minutes or until the vegetables are tender. Remove from the oven and stir in the greens & spinach, allowing the heat of the vegetables to wilt the leaves. Then stir in the parmesan cheese.