[2] These days, it’s easy to buy beets that are cooked, peeled, and ready to eat.

The greens of summer give way to the colorful root vegetables of fall: poetic and good for you.

What’s also good is that this recipe, from LoveBeets.com, uses only one pan. Prep time is 15 minutes, cooking time is 40 minutes.
 
 
RECIPE: ROAST CHICKEN WITH ROOT
VEGETABLES

Ingredients For 4 Servings

1. PREHEAT the oven to 425°F.

2. COMBINE potatoes, beets, carrots, turnips, onion and garlic in a large roasting pan. Drizzle the olive oil over the vegetables and then pour over the wine. Tuck the thyme sprigs in-between the vegetables. Season well with salt and pepper.

3. SEASON the chicken legs all over with salt and pepper and lay them on top of the vegetables. Cover loosely with foil and bake in the oven for 15 minutes.

4. REMOVE the foil from the pan and return to the oven. Bake for another 20-25 minutes or until the chicken is golden and crisp and the vegetables are cooked through.
 
 
WHAT ARE ROOT VEGETABLES

Root vegetables are plant roots that are eaten as vegetables. The term is used to refer to any part of the plant that grows underground, including the onion/garlic family, which are technically classified as bulbs. Often, the stems and leaves of these plants can also be eaten.

We’ve written about Sara Snacker cookies in the past, a business that began a decade ago in Sara’s college dorm room in Arizona. These days, the mother of three runs her business from New York City.

We enjoy most of the line very much, and are always happy when a new sample rolls in.

This week, we trued the company’s first gluten-free, dairy-free cookie: Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chippy.

While they don’t come out of the package looking like much (there’s a lot of cookie “dust”), they go into the mouth tasting great. We couldn’t stop eating them. The 12 cookie balls lasted maybe 24 hours.

The ingredients are all natural, and include creamy peanut butter, crunchy whole grain oats and semisweet chocolate chips.

In addition to a gluten-free recipe, the cookies are certified kosher by Star-D.

There’s a store locator on the website. The retailers are largely on the East Coast, but you can shop online at SaraSnacker.com.

Or, in our case, a peanut butter lover who isn’t on a gluten-free diet can happily make them disappear.
  

You can buy sparkling cider, or you can make it by adding seltzer to regular cider, in this idea from Polar Seltzer. It dilutes the cider—the cider version of a wine spritzer—but you can make that up with rum.

It goes from mocktail to cocktail with a splash of rum—preferably, spiced rum for more complex flavors.

You can create the drink it in any glass, but we prefer a tall highball.

RECIPE: SPARKLING CIDER COCKTAIL

Ingredients

Variation: Ginger Cider

Mix ginger ale and apple cider in your preferred proportions. It can be a mocktail or a cocktail, with rum or tequila.

RECIPE: Halloween Hot Chocolate

Ingredients

Marshmallow hot chocolate, Peeps-style.
Photo courtesy Peeps.

1. PREPARE hot chocolate; add to cups. Stir in optional spices (if you’re making hot chocolate from scratch in a sauce pan, add them to the sauce pan).

2. Top with whipped cream.

3. INSERT marshmallow cat, ghost or pumpkin. If using the optional skewer, first place marshmallow on top.
 
SERVING SUGGESTION

Any solid color mug you have is just fine.

But if you like the idea of holiday mugs, look for markdowns on Halloween-theme mugs, or buy black or orange mugs that can be used year-round. We like these festive mugs in orange and black stripes and dots.

MORE WAYS TO SERVE HALLOWEEN PEEPS

 
See more ideas on MarshmallowPeeps.com.

Maple syrup has a life far beyond pancakes. You can pour it over hot or cold breakfast cereal, for starters.

There’s plenty of pure maple syrup around, from New York, New England, and Canada. Take a look at this starter list of suggestions, and decide how you’ll use it next.

A maple soufflé recipe is below.
 
 
WAYS TO USE MAPLE SYRUP

Appetizers & Sides

[1] Fig and maple syrup cocktail. Here’s the (photo © Chef Linnéa Johansson | NYC).

 
Beverages

[2] Drizzle maple syrup on sharp cheeses (photo © http://www.murrayscheese.com).

 
 
GRADES OF MAPLE SYRUP

More than a few people are confused by the various types of maple syrup: grade A or B, light, medium, or dark amber, etc. But once you see the explanation in print, it’s easy to understand.

Here are the different grades of maple syrup.

Ingredients For 4 Individual Ramekins

 
Preparation

1. PREHEAT oven to 400° F. Separate egg whites and yolks.

2. WHISK together egg yolks and maple syrup in a small bowl.

3. BEAT egg whites in a stainless steel bowl, until soft peaks form.

4. FOLD the maple syrup mixture into the whipped egg whites. Pour into four ramekins and place ramekins on a baking sheet.

4. PLACE baking sheet in the oven and immediately turn temperature to 375°F. Bake for 10 minutes, or until puffed up.

Recipe courtesy PureCanadaMaple.com.