Fall is the time of year when the garden beans have been withered by frost and the carrots, potatoes, parsnips, turnips, rutabagas and other root vegetables are ready to dig for winter. Onions should already have been cured and stored away for winter, and brussels sprouts will take a bit of freezing before they need to be picked.

Hopefully, you gathered your winter squashes before we went into that deep freeze at Thanksgiving and they’ll be resting on a dark shelf in a cool (50 to 60 F) room, after having been wiped with a 10 per cent bleach solution to sanitize and help prevent growth of molds. That way, they’ll keep through winter, providing you with lots of delicious side dishes in the coming months.

Butternut, buttercup, delicata, hubbard and spaghetti squashes keep for months under ideal conditions, while acorn will keep for a month or more.

Cabbage is another great winter vegetable, keeping for weeks in the refrigerator without any harm. But, if you’re not keen on it in coleslaw, try it in a stir-fry. It’s particularly good with pork or ham, and onions always partner well with cabbage.

The beauty of stir-frying cabbage is you don’t cook it long enough to get it to that cabbagey-smelling stage. It’s still sweet when you sit down to eat it, and because it tends to be a bland vegetable, it marries well with Asian sauces.

I love to cube up a mixture of root vegetables and stir them together with a little olive oil, salt and pepper before spreading them in a large pan in the oven to roast. In the last half hour sprinkle with finely minced garlic, and a little minced rosemary. So simple, but oh, so good.

Chicken Fried Rice with Cabbage

We had a roast chicken on the weekend, then rice with another dish, so I made a little extra. This is a quick and nutritious way to use up leftover rice and chicken. I use brown rice for the extra goodness and flavour, but white would be fine too.

1 tbsp. (15 ml) minced ginger

1 onion

1/2 cabbage

4 mushrooms

1/2 zucchini

1/2 red pepper

1 c. (250) chicken

3 c. (750 ml) cold rice

1 tbsp. (15 ml) soy sauce

1 tbsp. (15 ml) teriyaki sauce

1 tbsp. (15 ml) Indonesian sweet soy

Chop onion, cabbage, mushrooms, zucchini, red pepper and cold, cooked chicken meat into pieces about the size of peas.

Drizzle a bit of oil into a wok or large frypan over medium-high heat.

Add ginger and stir, then add onion and stir, then cabbage. Stir-fry cabbage for a few minutes until it’s no longer quite so hard, and push it to the side and add the mushrooms and zucchini and stir-fry for a minute. Add red pepper and chicken to the middle and stir around, then push it all to the side and add the cold rice, breaking it up so it all warms through.

Drizzle soy sauce, teriyaki and Indonesian sweet soy over it all and begin to mix it well together.

When everything is warmed through, serve hot.

Serves 3.

Spaghetti Squash with Cheese

This can be amended to become a vegetarian dish by omitting the ham; or a strictly vegetable dish to serve alongside a meat dish, or it can be a whole meal cooked entirely in the microwave oven, with few dirty dishes.

1 1/2 lb. (680 g) spaghetti squash

1 tbsp. (15 ml) butter

1/2 c. (125 ml) mozzarella cheese

1/2 c. (125 ml) milk

1/4 c. (60 ml) parmesan

3/4 c. (175 ml) ham dice

3/4 c. (175 ml) mushrooms

1/2 c. (125 ml) frozen peas

2 green onions

Cut whole squash in half lengthwise and scoop out the seeds.

Put both pieces in a glass dish with a lid, with about a half-inch of hot water in the bottom. Microwave for 12 minutes.

Meanwhile prepare the filling ingredients by dicing the ham and vegetables into pea-sized pieces. Grate the cheeses into a medium-sized glass bowl with the butter.

Using a fork, pull the spaghetti-like strands of squash away from the shell and add to the butter and cheese. Toss it all together well to mix it.

It can be served this way as a side dish with a garnish of fresh herbs such as parsley, or add meat and vegetables of your choice.

Combine the remaining ingredients and mix well with the squash, then microwave, covered, for a further six to eight minutes, mixing well part way through, or until everything is hot.

Mound it back into the shells for an attractive serving.

Serves 3 or 4.