Autumn Veggies

I never thought it would happen but the summer heat is moving out of the Sydney area. No longer are the steel slides going to give your kids third degree burns when you take them for a 20 minute park run-a-round. Your two year old is now able to lick on his ice-cream without it running down his hand in 30 seconds flat (where you end up with it all over your clothes and body parts). I never thought I would be wearing jeans and a jumper (sweater) in Sydney. I didn't believe it was ever going to get cool.

Compared to Chicago winters and autumns (Fall) it is still balmy and fabulous however the difference between our two countries is this- Chicago is set up for the colder months. Heaters are set at soaring temperatures to keep the cold from nipping at your body parts. However here in Australia although the temperatures don't get down in the minuses for days, weeks, months at a time we don't have the intense heat in our houses, so at times it feels cooler than you think. Which brings me to my latest visit to the green grocer.

Root vegetables galore! I was so excited to race home  and chop them all  up into pieces, whack a bit of olive oil over them with some yummy flakey salt and freshly ground pepper then roast them in a very hot oven until they are crisp on the outside and soft and delicious on the inside. Root veggies are so versatile and CHEAP. You can buy a whole Jap pumpkin, roast a quarter of it for dinner, make soup out of the other half and finish off the other quarter with some potatoes and have it as a mash for dinner number three- what is there not to love about that! Honestly  when the cooler months come I live for soup, stews and curries. I load the kids up on veggies and they never complain....Ok so lets say seldom complain. 

I urge you to pop down to your local green grocer, grab some beetroots, turnips and pumpkin, throw them in the oven then toss with some wild rocket and goat cheese for a delicious lunch or dinner.

Cheers!