I was alone, sitting near the wood stove, feeling like Cinderella, but rather than wishing for a prince with a glass slipper, I was wishing for dinner.

I wanted comfort food that celebrated autumn, a dinner with complex flavors and one that was low in calories. Since the pumpkin carriage was out of service, dinner had to be created without a trip to the market. Wishing wasn’t working. I needed to think.

A baked potato dinner was a possibility. Preparation would be simple – washed and baked, the potato would be ready to top with yogurt. It was a low calorie meal but not wonderful. I wanted a dinner that looked as if my fairy godmother had been hard at work.

I considered macaroni and cheese but that required too much preparation, too many pots and I didn’t have a magic spell that would make it delicious AND low in calories. Microwaved popcorn and a grilled peanut butter and jelly sandwich came to mind. But, even the mice in the kitchen expect more for dinner than that.

It was getting late and I was hungry. I looked for inspiration in the refrigerator and found carrots, turnips, a small butternut squash, half a cauliflower, a couple of parsnips and a handful of washed lettuce.  If a single pumpkin could be magically transformed into a carriage, surely this collection of vegetables could be transformed into dinner.

The clock chimed seven and a wizard idea occurred to me. I could roast the vegetables with potatoes, onions and garlic, season them with olive oil, butter, dried rosemary, salt and pepper and dine like a princess in less than an hour.  Here’s how I did it:

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My painting of a turnip was featured in the Fall issue of Edible Green Mountains along with an article entitled Edible Traditions – Vermont roots: Gilfeather Turnips.   Inspired by the article and delighted to find locally grown, organic gilfeather turnips at the farmers’ market I decided to try this heirloom vegetable in my version of Turnip Soup. Worried that it would be too ‘turnippy’ I added potato and a bit of sour cream to the pot.

I wanted to serve the soup for dinner and decided to toast some pita and top it with cheese and tomato. I put the pita into the oven, set the timer for four minutes. Unfortunately, the broiler in my new oven is much more robust than the broiler in my old oven.  At the three minute mark, there were flames coming out of the oven vent. I opened the oven, dumped the flaming pita into the sink and filled the kitchen with smoke.

Twenty minutes later, the smoke was gone, (no we didn’t need the help of those folks who come in the big red truck), I made toast and dinner was ready and delicious. Here’s how I did it:

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