Are you sugared out? Too many conversation hearts? A few too many bon bons? More than a socially acceptable amount of Jell-O-based cake?

Me neither.

But sometimes it’s good to step away from the granulated sugar and high-fructose corn syrup anyway. You can still have something sweet, though.

You probably weren’t expecting this photo of parsnips just then. And you may not have even known that these ARE parsnips. I had never purchased a parsnip before. Toby didn’t know what they were. But I think they’re kind of cute. Like albino carrots. I imagine the White Rabbit would enjoy parsnips (if he had the time to stop and munch on some, obviously).

If you’re wondering, I bought these at a normal grocery store (not a fancy/gourmet one). It wasn’t a big deal. But, I have tried to purchase them in the past and the store was out. Before Thanksgiving was a particularly parsnip-scarce time. I think the issue is that the stores here just don’t stock very many.

Um, I don’t remember what kind of apples these were, but they’re not Fujis. You should probably use Fujis if you can get them. And actually, the parsnips were so good that we didn’t even care that much about the apples.

So, not only was this healthy and super easy to make, it was so good that Toby had some for breakfast. Roasted vegetables for breakfast, people. That kind of thing does not normally happen in this house.

I’ll definitely be making this again.

Roasted apples and parsnips (Adapted from Southern Living, serves 4)
1 pound parsnips
1 pound Fuji apples
1 tablespoon coarsely chopped fresh sage (optional)
1 1/2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
Pinch of pepper
Pinch of nutmeg
Pinch of ground allspice

Preheat oven to 475 F.

Peel parsnips and cut into quarters lengthwise. Peel and core apples and cut into quarters.

Place parsnip and apple quarters in a bowl and toss with the other ingredients to coat. Lightly grease a rimmed baking sheet and spread the parsnips and apples out in a single layer on the sheet.

Place baking sheet on a rack 1/3 down from top of oven and bake for about 15 minutes, then stir and bake for another 15 minutes or until parsnips and apples are soft and browned.