Every Sunday I go to my local farmers market armed with a tote bag and cash that I will spend every last penny of. I love all of the fresh produce and knowing I'm supporting local farms. I'm always sad to see the bountiful harvests of summer go, but the root vegetables and winter squashes that fall brings provide me with a feeling of comfort.
Rutabagas are easily in my top three favorite fall/winter vegetables. They are versatile, hearty, and easy to work with! Not to mention they are chockful of vitamin C, which my body desperately needs this time of year to avoid getting sick. When my mom comes to town she stays for two nights (a Friday to Sunday deal). One of these nights I take her out to a restaurant and the other night I cook something she wouldn't usually have. Seeing as it is the weekend before Halloween, dinner with fall flavors made a lot of sense!
Flavors like maple syrup. Cinnamon. Nutmeg. An added richness from goat cheese. An elevated sweetness from dried cranberries. Add a few veggies and pair with roasted acorn squash and you've got an amazing (vegetarian!) dinner. One of the best ways to show appreciation to someone (in my opinion) is to bake for them. Over this last weekend I found myself and friends in Boston for a work event and a coworker was nice enough to let us stay at his home. This was absolutely not necessary on his part, so it only felt right to thank him and his wife with an autumnal baked good (because duh, it's mid-October)!
Cakey. Spicy. Tangy. Chocolatey. I knew exactly what to make - pumpkin cookies with chocolate chips, toasted pecans, and dried cranberries adapted from the Tate's Bake Shop "Baking For Friends" cookbook (aka my personal baking bible). The end of summer means lots of snacking. Don't ask me why, but it's a struggle I face every year. Now usually I fall down the rabbit hole of chips and cheez-its and cookies and all sorts of traps that will bring on my winter weight earlier than I prefer to happen. But this year I shall overcome! Or not...who knows. Food is pretty awesome after all.
At this point it is not "I need to stop snacking" (because that is crazy talk) but rather "I need to snack healthier." So I rattled my brain and realized - fruit chips! Veggie chips! Oh, the possibilities! And since it's fall why not have my first shot at this be pear chips? |
AuthorAli is a Brooklyn based blogger and Certified Health Coach with the Institute of Integrative Nutrition, providing you with recipes to inspire you to cook more at home! She is a firm believer in knowing that eating healthy can be made easy and inexpensive if you simply know how to cook and understands that for the average person there needs to be balance between "healthy" and "unhealthy". Whether you are looking for easy weeknight recipes, delicious snacks, or want to try something new, Ali's recipes are easy to follow at all skill levels! For more info about Ali and her offerings, check out the About page. Categories
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