Maybe it’s the fact that I am going to be home for almost a full month (my next trip isn’t until October 8th, and maybe it is just a new season but I am feeling really excited about cooking. I always say that I am not the most creative cook, but I am getting more and more proficient… I just need a good recipe! And I have been saving things to my Instagram, scouring Pinterest, going through my favorite cookbooks, and just getting really excited to hunker down, be at home, and cook all of the delicious fall things!
(PS – my favorite cookbooks are all in this blog post!!! Be sure to read through the comments, too… SO many good recs!)
What I Want to Cook This Fall
All of the soups.
Soup is hands down, my favorite comfort food to eat in the Fall. I always laugh because Becca (my friend and podcasting partner) insists that soup is not a meal. I think she sees it more as a side dish? What do we think? I have always thought of soup as a meal. There’s nothing better than a big bowl (ideally with a big chunk of bread and good butter) for a weeknight dinner. So I mean you also need some bread but it’s a meal! And nothing tops fall dinner ideas than a big yummy soup a few times a week. (I also like the laziness of soup… you can make a big pot and have lunch or dinner for DAYS!)
My go-to favorite soups are this broccoli one and this vegan cream of tomato one. I want to add a few new favs to my arsenal. Nancy Meyers had posted this Marcella Hazan’s lentil soup on her Instagram which is so yummy. And I really love lentils during the colder months, they are so filling and hearty. (I would LOVE to hear your favorite soup recipes in the comments!)
Alison Roman’s Flatbreads.
One of my absolute favorite things that I had made during lockdown was Alison Roman’s sour cream flatbread. The recipe is in her Dining In cookbook (one of my favs) but you can also read it here. They are a little bit time consuming to make (really just with wait times and letting the dough rise) but my tip is to double the recipe and freeze half the dough. It is SO good. I like to eat these fresh off the stove with dip (they’re extra good served hot!) but there are a million ways to eat them. Make pizzas with them! Serve with ricotta and mushrooms… peaches and burrata… chicken tikka masala or any sort of curry. SO GOOD.
Dips.
Dips to go with the flatbread. But curious: what are your favorite (ideally healthy) dip recipes? I love this labneh dip but need some more ideas! Tzatziki is another favorite.
Everything from this cookbook.
I bought this cookbook but I did not cook this book. The problem I have is that now that I have storage, my cookbooks are all in a cabinet and I tend to forget about my newer ones. I totally forgot about this book! I try to cook at least one or two new things from it every month. Most of the recipes are SO quick and easy – we’re talking gourmet meals that take 30 minutes or less. If you’ve made anything from it, tell me your favorites!
Some okra things?
I love okra, and it’s always abundant at my farmer’s market. I am not a big fan of gumbo or fried okra but there are tons of other great ways to eat it. My mom used to put it in minestrone soup and that was my FAV – think an abundance of white beans and fresh root vegetables. This okra with tomatoes recipe looks so great, I love the idea of putting it in the air fryer, and how yummy do these okra poppers look (a less spicy take on jalapeño poppers!?)
PS – Four easy recipes I make again and again, + my favorite kitchen gadgets!
With the lingering heat, I don’t want to go near my oven until late October, but I am also excited about cranking it up for fall. It’s the only time of year I bake–usually pumpkin bread, cranberry bars and oatmeal chocolate-chip cookies.
I also love a good soup and look forward to seeing what you make this year. Martha Stewart’s Coconut-Curry Noodle Soup recipe is one of my easy favorites and great when you have a cold.
Cook this book is incredible! I made the lamb chops and was blown away that I could make that at home. The mushroom toast with a Molly egg was also delicious!
I can vouch for the eggplant dip from Claire Saffitz’s Dessert Person cookbook. So easy and a great alternative to hummus to mix things up!
Hi Grace, here are two soups that I absolutely LOVE!
https://www.halfbakedharvest.com/creamy-thai-carrot-sweet-potato-soup/ (you can use regular peanut butter in place of the raw almond butter.)
https://cookieandkate.com/vegetable-soup-recipe/ (my all time fave detox soup.)
Hope you enjoy!
I just made the lemon chicken with orzo soup from Pinch of Yum last night… SO good. Lots of lemon and dill keeps it fresh. They have so many good recipes on their website, I don’t think I’ve ever disliked something I made from them! Also, soup is definitely a meal, sorry Becca! LOL
I’m also working my way through Cook This Book! Make the smoked mayo and cheddar tomato toast while it’s still tomato season, and the way she makes popcorn has truly changed my mind about at-home popcorn!
I made the tomato toast more times than I can admit this summer. It’s incredible! Every dish I’ve made from that book has been amazing- love Molly Baz!
The carrot soup in the Cravings cookbook is life changing! Seriously! Every time I make it someone says, “this tastes like something we’d have in a restaurant!”
The salt and vinegar potatoes from Cook This Book are delicious and the dip is divine! Highly recommend as a side/appetizer.
I think you will love the Tomato Toast from Cook this Book while tomatoes are still in season! My husband’s favorite recipes from her book are her “salt and vinegar” potatoes and her steak with the red fresno chiles (we use Red Clay in this recipe, too!).
Ok, most underrated recipe from Molly Baz’s book is the POPCORN. It’s so good and easy and if you make one thing from it I highly recommend her popcorn recipe.
The cheesy mozzarella pasta with anchovies, escarole and bread crumbs from Molly’s book was amazing. Next time I make it I plan to use even more escarole as that was my fave part.
Cook This Book has become a favorite of me and my husband. The ingredients are things you can find at a normal grocery and are organized the way the store is! We’re cooking our way through the book. Some favorites that we’ve already made multiple times include: Marinated lentils, steak with red chimichurri, jammy peps with feta, and peanutty pork noods.
I love the cookbook by Molly Baz. I have so many recipes marked with sticky notes. It’s honestly such a great book but especially for Fall/Winter.
The Defined Dish has a fantastic recipe for tandoori chicken burgers that includes crispy okra (roasted not fried) as a side, and it has quickly become one of my favorites! Highly recommend if you’re looking for a new way to eat all the okra!
In the last week I’ve made the “homemade vegetarian chili” and “best lentil soup” both from Cookie + Kate and love them! And I’m not even a vegetarian. They’ve been a nice way to start welcoming fall in upstate NY.
One of my fave soups is from Smitten Kitchen – the lentil, sausage, chard and garlic one. So delicious and great for cooler temps! https://smittenkitchen.com/2013/01/lentil-soup-with-sausage-chard-and-garlic/
Love your blog but so disappointed that you would highlight Chrissy Tiegans cookbook.
I turn to Cookie & Kate for all of her soup recipes. She has a way of writing veggie recipes where you don’t even notice there isn’t meat because they’re filling and flavorful. It’s a bit of an older book but I recently rediscovered my copy of Sara Forte’s “The Sprouted Kitchen Bowl + Spoon.” So many delicious veggie forward meals and seriously who doesn’t love eating out of a bowl? It’s cozy and fall friendly.
Hi Grace! I absolutely love Molly’s cookbook and have two recipes I’ve made on repeat that are perfect for fall. The first is Graziella’s Pasta al Pomodoro, page 142, and the Peanutty Pork Noodles with Crunchy Celery, page 148. Both are so good and simple to cook and make great leftovers.
I feel very strongly that soup is in fact a meal! And one of my favorite meals. Nothing beats a big bowl of soup! I don’t discriminate against soups but my favorites are the classic chicken noodle or chili. I went to a restaurant that had chicken consommé and it was … delicious (I did have this as an appetizer)!! I had never heard of it, but it’s the most flavorful chicken broth and truly just amazing.
This shrimp & okra dish is SO delicious – it was published in the NY Times in 1992 and I wish they’d reprint it because the formatting is all jumbled. But highly, highly recommend … especially with the accompanying baked rice (which I make according to their directions, with water not shrimp stock). It’s fairly light but hearty in a nice way 🙂
https://www.nytimes.com/1992/10/07/garden/60-minute-gourmet-985392.html
(And pro tip: if you end up loving it, the pre-washed, pre-sliced frozen okra from the grocery store is a time-saving tip, especially when okra is out of season! Same goes for the tomatoes – I often use the San Marzano canned diced ones when the fresh tomatoes look less-than-perfect.)
I need to see how you cook lentils, I tried and definitely did something wrong. bitter and too firm.
Here are some of my favorite soup recipes …
https://cookieandkate.com/classic-minestrone-soup-recipe/
https://www.halfbakedharvest.com/instant-pot-broccoli-cheddar-soup/
https://thecozyapron.com/simple-lemony-chicken-spring-veggie-soup-a-little-sunshine-in-my-spoon/ ( I got this rec from a great Emily Henderson post about soups and stews (https://stylebyemilyhenderson.com/blog/janstewary-how-soup-changed-my-life-body)
Wow this is amazing! Thanks for sharing. I’m going to try the recipes Emily Henderson has shared. I was just telling my husband that nothing makes my insides feel better than a big bowl of soup!
Love an Alison Roman anything and also Melisssa Clark’s Easiest Lentil Soup (NYT Cooking) is my go to. 10/10 recommend- can add carrots during the onion sauté to sweeten and any veggie I’ve added is always delicious!
So the sleeper recipe for me in Cook This Book is the cabbage and lamb meatballs. I’ve always hated cabbage and this made me a convert…it’s delish!
I’ve only gotten fully through the chicken section of cook this book but they are ALL amazing! I am a terrible cook and all of them we successful. I also randomly made the Jammy Eggs with Yogurt and Brown Buttered Nuts and it sounds so weird, but YUM.
Love soup in the fall. My favorites are:
http://www.thetableblog.com/2014/01/italian-soup-with-white-beans-and-greens/
And: https://dishingupthedirt.com/recipes/sweet-potato-quinoa-stew-with-white-beans-and-spinach/
This is our fave soup of all time! We swap the water for chicken stock:
https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/chicken-and-rice-soup-with-garlicky-chile-oil
This is so funny! Both my sister and my bestie insist soup is not a meal. Or it’s a sad one, but I disagree1 it depends on the soup and definitely some good bread and butter ( or a biscuit or croutons) round it out. I love Melissa Clark’s Lemony white bean soup with turkey and greens. You can swap out the ground turkey for any other ground meat ( I liked Italian sausage, pork or turkey) and really use whatever greens you have. The fresh herbs added at the end are the star ( any fresh herb works too). I also love the Broccoli cheddar soup from Smitten Kitchen ( low on dairy, more broccoli ). I never likes canned soup much growing up, but homemade yes. When I get bored of salads, roasted or steamed vegetables a good soup ( veggie packed) is a perfect way to get all your foods groups in one bowl! Also classic split pea is a winner. My dad made the best ( he always used his own homemade stock). He sadly passed away just two weeks ago, but he made a lot of soup this year and canned it. I’m going to have some for lunch today. My sister and I joked ( you have to laugh sometimes to survive the grief)that our most precious inheritance is the freezer full of his homemade stock. Soup equals dad for me. Soup is simple food , but it feeds the soul.
Hi There Courtney,
Be a lot kinder to yourself definitely♥️. Never mind what these snarky people say . I’m a nurse and yes I work hard but guess what? it’s a lot easier taking care of people than having to Source Positive , Mindful , Happy and Interesting things and then write a Blog about it all while trying to be Miss Positivity yourself . You are doing Great give yourself a huge pat on the back Hope your fatigue goes away and enjoy your walks and fingers crossed you don’t faint in the Hot Yoga ♀️ Just get yourself back to You !! Thank you so much for all the Meaningful and Mindful Blogs I look forward to them , it’s like having a pen pal across the world .♥️Xx