Fall is My Favorite
Fall is my absolute favorite season of the year, and I especially love October. There is just something about the crisp air, the leaves changing colors, and pulling on a soft, cozy hoodie in the morning. Unfortunately, this month has flown by and I haven’t had nearly enough time to enjoy it.
That is, until this weekend when we did have a chance to get out and take the little guy to Ghouls at Grassmere and to his very first pumpkin patch!
Okay, so it wasn’t exactly a pumpkin patch – more like a roadside stand that sold pumpkins. But it was a really snazzy stand with lots of setups for photo ops so we got some cute pics out of it.
Really can’t believe that my baby boy will be 9 months old this week! Time goes too fast.
Anyway….even though we did have a little fun this weekend, I also spent a good amount of time doing chores, running errands, etc, etc, and not enough time meal planning for the week. Because of this, I’ve got a stack of produce that I need to get creative with in the next few days, so I’m asking for your help.
Below is a list of the items I’ve got to work with. Please leave me comments with your ideas and/or links to recipes and I will be forever grateful!
Butternut Squash
Spaghetti Squash
Pattypan Squash
Sweet Potatoes – would love ideas for savory dishes vs sweet
Eggplant (Pretty certain I’m going to make this recipe recommended by Lesleyeats, but I’m open to other ideas too!)
This recipe has just three ingredients other than seasonings – three! I have made it using both butternut squash and sweet potato. It achieves that sweet, spicy, savory combination i know we both love. I’ve also made it using turkey or chicken sausage for a lighter version, but of course the pork works best.
http://www.newschannel5.com/story/17090016/recipe-4784-sweet-potato-sausage-kale-saute-tue-march-6-2012
Will definitely be making this one!!
Fall in middle TN is magical. Totally worth putting up with our summers for.
Here are two of our favorite savory sweet potato dishes! Hope it helps!
http://lollingabout.wordpress.com/2011/10/28/foodie-friday-the-best-soup-in-the-world/
http://lollingabout.wordpress.com/2012/05/04/foodie-friday-coconut-braised-spinach-and-chickpeas/
Oh my gosh Allyn, the coconut braised spinach and chickpeas over sweet potatoes sounds perfect!! I love coconut, my husband loves spinach. Marriage made in heaven ;-)
My friend Cassie just blogged an awesome vegan butternut squash/black bean chili recipe that looks divine. http://womanista.com/womanista-wish-list-this-week-im-loving/
We make these awesome sweet and spicy sweet potatoes. Cube, toss with a little molasses, olive oil, crushed red pepper flake, cayenne pepper and garlic. Cook the crap out of them until they are nice and crisp. They make a great side dish or sprinkled on a salad.
Spaghetti squash and some cherry tomatoes with a little goat cheese is my favorite way to get them down.
Love the sound of those simple sweet & spicy sweet potatoes. Maybe, just maybe, R will like them that way (he is not a sweet potato fan). Will give it a shot!
I’m loving the pictures of everyone’s kids in the pumpkin patches. They’re so adorable. I’m making this chorizo and sweet potato hash this week. It’s delicious and one of Joe’s favorites: http://www.cook-pray-love.com/2011/10/chorizo-and-sweet-potato-hash.html
Ooh, thanks Kira! I think R will love this recipe!
My favorite squash recipe of all time is this curried squash and pear bisque recipe from Cooking Light. Other than some roasting time for the butternut squash, it’s quick and very easy to make, and freezes and reheats excellently and is a great meatless option – http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/curried-squash-and-pear-bisque-10000000222625/
Cecelia, that sounds amazing!
Fall is MY favorite, too! Thanks for linking up to my eggplant recipe! (I love it!) Also, I love love love spaghetti squash. My recommendation? Roast it whole for 1 hour, then cut it in half and scoop out the flesh and dress just like you do with any other spaghetti! Perfection! :)
can’t wait to try your eggplant recipe!
Fall is hands down my favorite, too. J + I got married in Asheville in the fall specifically for that reason. That, and the leaves. Sigh. So beautiful!
I love my go-to roasting spice combo for all pumpkin/sweet potato/squash families. It’s here : http://sweetbetweens.com/2012/10/04/cranberry-parmesanbutternut-squash-pasta/
Hannah at Nothing but Delicious has done a couple great new recipes lately on squash that are definitely worth checking out, too! http://nothingbutdelicious.blogspot.com/
R and I got married in October because I wanted an outdoor wedding and October is pretty much the only month you can count on perfect weather here!
Why not a sweet potato and pear soup? Sweet and Savoury: http://thescienceoffood.info/post/8952414265/sweetpotatoandpearsoup
or a butternut squash peanut butter soup:
http://thescienceoffood.info/post/33006248816/butternutsquahsandpbsoup
My favorite thing to do with Spaghetti Squash is to roast it, scoop out the flesh like pasta and dress it with pesto and parmasean cheese.
Mmmmm, butternut squash peanut butter soup sounds so good!
At the recommendations of Erin[‘s food files] I tried this Southwest spaghetti squash dish a few weeks ago and LOVED it. To make it easier I roasted the squash on Sunday afternoon so Monday night just had to assemble and bake. Delish!
http://bevcooks.com/2011/10/southwestern-stuffed-spaghetti-squash/
I actually made that a couple of weeks ago after Erin recommended! Unfortunately I accidentally put chili pepper instead of chili powder and it was obnoxiously spicy. R couldn’t eat it at all, but I still did. I’ll have to try it again and make it correctly this time ;-)
I know you aren’t looking for sweet, but I’m planning to try out Tandy Wilson’s recipe from Garden and Gun (it ran last year) for Thanksgiving this year: http://gardenandgun.com/article/sweet-potato-casserole-sorghum. It’s been on my “to-do” list for this fall.
Precious pictures, by the way!
Thanks Elizabeth :-)
Curried butternut squash soup. It’s a martha stewart recipe and super yummy!
I cannot get enough of this Butternut Squash gratin! Somehow the sweet butternut with the bitter spinach and the creme fraiche just really does it for me. Give it a try! http://www.bhg.com/recipe/vegetables/butternut-squash-gratin/
Also… I loved the Eggplant Saffron Rice bake, made it this weekend and it was a big hit! Thanks!
yum, that sounds great! thanks Sarah!
Thank you for doing this – lots of great recipes in the comments! Here are a few more:
Butternut Squash and Apple Soup: http://farmflavor.com/smoky-apple-and-butternut-squash-soup (Made this already this fall – a good combo of sweet and spicy.)
Although my favorite way for butternut squash is just oven-roasted, then mashed with a bit of brown sugar and ground chipotle.
Savory Sweet Potato Casserole: http://farmflavor.com/savory-sweet-potato-casserole
Eggplant, Mozzarella and Pesto Gratins: http://farmflavor.com/eggplant-mozzarella-pesto-gratins (My husband, who isn’t an eggplant fan, loves this dish.)
Stuffed Squash – I’ve done this with pattypans, sans bacon – boil for about 10-12 minutes (depending on the size, but a little longer than croockneck squash as in the recipe), and cut the stuffing ingredients in half to make enough filling for 4 pattypans (as it is, it makes enough for about 8): http://farmflavor.com/garden-stuffed-yellow-squash
I’m definitely going to try that butternut squash gratin above and that sweet potato soup – and I am overloaded with eggplant and sweet potatoes, so thanks again for getting people to share their in-season recipes!
Thank YOU Jessy, for all of the ideas!
We came home from the “punkin’ stand” with yet another pumpkin, butternut squash, spaghetti squash and more butternut squash. And we’ve already had this 2x this week and most likely will have it again this weekend…I made it for the first time last fall thanks to a Twitter recommendation, & I can’t get enough of it.
http://www.inspiredtaste.net/8160/sweet-and-spicy-butternut-squash-recipe/
I am squash obsessed bc I love that it will keep for awhile before you have to cook it, so I cook with butternut, acorn and spaghetti squash a lot. Plus everyone in the house seems to like it. Your little one is so cute!
http://highheelstohotwheels.com/2012/10/butternut-squash-ravioli-with-sage-brown-butter/
http://highheelstohotwheels.com/2012/07/spaghetti-squash-spaghetti/
What a CUTIE!!
Notice that I took your advice on the pumpkin stand ;-)
You might want to go with this along with your stuffed eggplant :)
http://www.womanistan.com/strawberries-with-orange-juice-recipe.html