It is now officially winter. Although the days are now getting longer, unless you live in Southern California, you are not able to get much locally grown produce (other than kale) from your garden or your green grocer.
Therefore, if you want to lighten your carbon footprint, you can eat more roasted root vegetables like carrots, potatoes, beets, yams, and things that keep well, things like squash.
And that’s exactly what I did yesterday evening for our post-Christmas dinner – a big old casserole dish of roasted root veggies.
To prepare the veggies, I cut the selection of root veggies including carrots, beets, potatoes, yams, and onions into approximately 1/4″ slices and then a big chunk of a winter squash cut into 2″x 2″ pieces.
I arranged them on edge in my baking dish, drizzled lots of olive oil over them, gave them a generous grind of black pepper and a shake of sea salt, then fired them into the oven which was preheated to 400°.
About 45 minutes later I tested the roasted root vegetables with a fork and found them to be soft to the touch. I took them out, drizzled a little more olive oil over them and let them cool off for a couple of minutes before plating them.
They were delicious! Perfectly tender to the fork with a wonderful earthy aroma and flavour. 
The best part was how easy this dish was – slice up a selection of root veggies, arrange them in a baking dish and fire them into the oven. And 45 minutes later a lovely meatless dinner was served.
*Yes, I understand that not all root veggies are grown locally. Sweet potatoes and yams are typically imported but I am talking about the spirit of eating with the seasons. Winter time is a good time to enjoy root veggies. Give it a try.