This recipe is pareve and vegan, so it can be a wonderful side dish to any meat or can serve as a main course for those with dietary restrictions.

Food Editor’s Note:  I have had roasted butternut squash before, and even roasted butternut squash with dried cranberries.  But I had never had roasted butternut squash with dried cranberries, sweet onions, cinnamon, and toasted pine nuts – an intriguing combination that turned out to be easy, colorful, and delicious!  It is sweet and tangy and earthy, smooth and chewy and crunchy, all at the same time.  This recipe is one of the winners of the 2003 ShalomBoston.com High Holiday Recipe Contest – for good reason as you will see!

This dish provides a wonderful cornucopia of the colors and flavors of the autumn harvest.  I like to arrange it on a large platter – the orange yams, bright green Brussels sprouts, and vivid beets make a beautiful composition.  Since root vegetables vary in moisture content, you may have to adjust cooking times accordingly for par-boiling the beets as well as the final roasting.  Feel free to experiment, adding and subtracting vegetables.  I've had great luck with small boiling onions, wedged red onion, butternut squash and red bliss potatoes.  Even whole garlic cloves will turn out meltingly soft and sweet, since high-temperature roasting brings out the natural vegetable sugars.

Food Editor's Note: 

This dish is indeed beautiful.  It's surprising how many people actually like beets when they are cooked properly!  If you make this side dish, you don't really need much else, maybe just a salad.  Try your own selection of root vegetables, but remember that the roasting time may vary somewhat.  I added a little extra apple cider to my vegetables towards the end, just to keep them moist and lightly coated with the glaze.  Keep the vegetables in a warm oven until the turkey or other entrée is ready.  Then just spoon them onto a beautiful large serving platter for a very elegant and unusual side dish

This salad is typical of the one Israelis eat every day. The common elements are tomatoes, cucumbers, green peppers, and onions, all cut up into small pieces. The salad originated on the kibbutz, when members came in from their early morning work to make their own salads from vegetables laid out in separate baskets. There are many variations of this classic. You may add garlic, radishes, parsley, or red or yellow bell peppers, and scallions or yellow onions may be substituted for the red onion. It is best to use a light extra virgin olive oil.

This dressing is especially good on romaine lettuce or fresh spinach leaves.  I often add mandarin oranges and red onion to the salad for extra color and flavor.  This goes particularly well with an Asian-style meal.

The vegetables for this colorful, vitamin-packed kugel can be prepared quickly in the food processor.  Double the recipe for a large crowd.  It's a winner!  Use frozen spinach instead of fresh if you prefer.

Food Editor's notes:  This is moist, flavorful, and very colorful.  I used fresh spinach, hand chopped all the vegetables, and chopped rather than grated the carrots, as I like the texture and taste of slightly larger pieces.  I cooked the kugel for 45 minutes and the top was firm but the interior was moist.  It tasted wonderful hot from the oven and also at room temperature an hour later.  This is so healthy, so pretty, and so versatile, that it might just become a staple in your repertoire.  Serve it with fish or roast chicken, or as part of a buffet brunch, lunch, or dinner.

Everyone always asks for this recipe, and it's great to bring in a beautiful antique or glass bowl to a potluck or gourmet dinner. It has a sweet dressing that even kids like.