Notes: This is the best cauliflower recipe I've ever had aside from aloo gobi. Taken verbatim (except for oil reduction) from Homesick Texan's post here. Serves four.






Ingredients:
2 heads of cauliflower, chopped into 1-inch-sized florets
6 cloves of garlic, minced
1/4 cup of fresh purple sage (or regular sage) chopped
1/8 cup of olive oil
1/4 cup of white wine vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste


Method:

• Preheat the oven to 425.
• Toss the chopped florets with the other ingredients.
• Lay flat in a baking dish and cook uncovered for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

you can do to a yam! Which is the exciting lesson I learned on my quest for healthy side dishes. I came across this recipe because I had extra fresh dill on hand and didn't want to just make the traditional dill and potatoes to be healthy. Originally found on The Yummy Life, with slight modifications. Serves 4.




Ingredients:

• Preheat oven to 400. Spray a 9x13 baking dish with cooking spray. Add the yams and onions in layers.
• Drizzle olive oil, add salt and pepper and toss thoroughly to coat yams evenly.
• Bake for 30-40 minutes until lightly browned. Remove from oven, add dill, and mix again. Return to oven for 1-2 minutes to cook the dill just a touch and serve.

Sage is also a good substitute for dill and gives the recipe an entirely different flavor. Make the rest of the recipe exactly the same, but once the yams have cooked, heat up 1 tbs olive oil in a skillet and fry 1/4-1/3 cup fresh chopped sage leaves until crisp (1-2 minutes on medium heat). Mix into yams. I like to make the sage version without onion, just because.

So, recently Jenny linked me to a recipe for pumpkin sage orzo, but I was really in the mood for a casserole so I used this one instead. Of course, sage was the one herb that the grocery store didn't have that day, so I used fresh oregano and thyme instead and it came out good, but I can't help feeling sage would make it infinitely better. I also thought that this casserole came out too dry (the original instructions say to cook it uncovered the whole time), so I've changed that part of it, but it might be something worth playing around with--how long you cook it covered vs. uncovered.  Serves 6

Ingredients

Olive oil
1 13 oz box pasta, such as farfalle, small shells, or elbows
1 15-ounce container ricotta
1 15-ounce can pumpkin puree
2 eggs
1/2 c plain yogurt
2 teaspoons salt
freshly ground black pepper
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground or fresh grated ginger
3/4 c pecans, roughly chopped
1/2 c loosely packed fresh sage leaves, finely chopped
3 large garlic cloves, finely chopped
3/4 c grated Parmesan, divided

Directions

• Heat the oven to 375°F. Lightly oil a 9x13-inch baking dish with olive oil. Set aside.
• Bring a 4-quart pot of water to boil over high heat, and stir about 1 tablespoon of salt. Add the pasta, and turn the heat down to medium. Cook for a minute short of cooking time. Drain  and toss lightly with olive oil.
• In a large bowl, whisk together ricotta, pureed pumpkin, eggs, and yogurt. Whisk in the salt, pepper, nutmeg, and ginger.
• Stir in the pasta and coat completely with the pumpkin mixture. Stir in the pecans, chopped pecans, sage, and garlic. Stir in 1/2 cup Parmesan.
• Spread the mixture evenly in the prepared baking dish and.bake covered with tinfoil for 30 minutes.  Sprinkle the remaining 1/4 cup Parmesan over top and broil then 5-10 uncovered or until golden brown on top. Let stand for 5 minutes before serving.

• yams for rutabaga. The end result is something sweeter, and is delicious when served with a little honey on top. Just adding yam in addition to everything (2 c, peeld and diced) is good too.
• kabocha for butternut squash, again slightly sweeter.
• rosemary for sage, a small variation that changes the entire flavor.

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. 
2. Combine all ingredients in bowl; toss to coat. Transfer to large, shallow baking dish and spread evenly.
3. Bake about 45 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes (until vegetables are tender and just beginning to take on color).
4. Sprinkle with herbs and serve hot or warm.