Eating Smart with the Seasons

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Part One

Winter Vegetables

Fruits and vegetables contain nutrients that help to protect you from common seasonal illnesses.

Here are a few of the many reasons to eat winter fruits and vegetables:

1.     In-season foods have likely traveled a much shorter distance to make it to your plate. The shorter the distance food has traveled, the more nutritional value and better the taste.

2.     Winter vegetables are very high in vitamin C and vitamin A, two very important nutrients for the immune systems ability to fight colds and the flu during the winter months.

To increase your immunity against colds and the flu this season, consider increasing your intake of:

Winter squash: Delicata, Spaghetti, Acorn, Butternut, Pumpkin, etc.

Dark leafy greens: Kale, Chard, Bok choy

Root vegetables: Beets, Parsnips, Rutabagas, Radishes, Turnips, Celery Root, Carrots

Sweet potatoes, Yams

Cabbage, Cauliflower

Brussels sprouts

This is a really simple and great tasting winter recipe.  For different flavors, use a combination of any herb, root vegetable, squash, and/or potato.

Bon Appetite!

Roasted Root Veggies

Serves 6-8

Ingredients

6 carrots washed and roughly chopped

4 baby turnips, peeled

4-6 fingerling potatoes (yams or sweet potatoes),

washed and cut lengthwise

1-2 parsnips cut into ½ in pieces

2 medium onions peeled and cut into chunks

1-2 beets, peeled and cut into thick wedges

1 celery root, trimmed and halved, halves cut into 1inch chunks

1 head of garlic, cloves separated and peeled

3 sprigs of rosemary, sage, thyme, and parsley

olive oil

salt, freshly ground pepper

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Chop 5 of the garlic cloves to coat the vegetables and leave the rest whole. Place all veggies in a roasting pan, finely chop the herbs and throw them on top of the veggies. Drizzle liberally with olive oil, salt and fresh pepper. Toss them with your hands to coat them evenly.

Place the pan in the oven and cook for about 45 min stirring them occasionally with a wooden spoon. Remove from oven and serve immediately right out of the pan or on individual plates.

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