the challenge that i set for my 5-a-day friends was to eat a fruit or vegetable that we had NEVER eaten before. the little fruit market by my parents' house is quaint, cheap, and loaded with vegetables, so, wearin my purple dress, i picked up every vegetable with a purple hue, including rutabagas, parsnips, turnips, and chinese eggplants. 
i fretted about how, exactly, to prepare a rutabaga (which, by the way, is so southern-fun to say, and, to say often).
so, here's how it all went from bland, like a raw russett potato, to earthy-tasty:
cube 1 parsnip, 1 rutabaga, 1 turnip, and 1 brown russett potato. i peeled some of the skin on some of the vegetables but couldn't continue the stripping process because of the loss of lovely color and nutrients. slice 1/2 white onion. mix all vegetables together with olive oil, red wine vinegar, 1/3 c. sugar, rosemary, salt, pepper, and any other italian seasoning. bake/roast uncovered in the oven at 350 degrees for approximately 45 minutes. about 8 minutes before removing from the oven, add another 1/2 sliced onion on top of the lot. yummy and different.
