Fall Recipes to Try

Happy November everyone! I can't handle how it's already dark at five now that we set the clocks back, I miss the sun. But before we know it we'll be setting the clocks ahead again and be at the beach in the summer! Thus is the cycle of life.

Since it's been slowing getting colder and colder, and now that I have brought out the down and wool blankets, it's about time to turn to my food Pinterest board and look for those yummy fall-type recipes that I want to try out this season. Here are ten that I can't wait to try.

Chorizo Macaroni and Cheese.

Cheesy Quinoa and Broccoli Patties.

Quinoa and Sweet Potato Chili.

Stuffed Acorn Squash.

Spinach and Tortellini Soup.

Caprese Lasagna Roll Ups.

Baked Hummus and Spinach Dip.

Mozzarella Sticks.

Crock Pot Rosemary and Olive Oil Bread.

And for dessert...

Chocolate Covered Frozen Banana and Peanut Butter Bites.

A lot of these look and sound like that aren't that difficult to make which I like. Also some of them seem like the could be stand alone meals, which is my most favorite thing ever since I'm not a big fan of making bunches of sides to go with whatever I just spent an hour or two creating. Maybe one day if I have a family I'll be more into side dishes, but for now it's not what I like to do. I think I may try to make one of those quinoa recipes today, because quinoa and I have a wonderful relationship together where we just love each other for who we are and what we might become (a meal in the quinoa's case). 

Are there any cozy meals that you can't wait to try out as the weather outside gets less friendly? Let me know and enjoy your November!

Naomi Odlin

Apple Crisp!

Guys! I made apple crisp for the first time the other night! and I remembered to take pictures of the process, which I'm pretty proud of myself for. As mentioned before in one of my posts, I don't really follow recipes, but it tasted really good!

Start with apples! These were from our apple picking trip a couple of weeks ago.

Peel your apples! If you have a small pan, just peel a few, but keep in mind they they will get smaller when cooking, so make sure you have enough apples to pile your pan high.

Core your apples! Careful not to accidentally cut yourself like I did (stabbed myself actually, right in the palm ouch!)

Slice those apples up!

Now I didn't take a picture of a couple of the steps sorry! Basically what you do is toss your sliced apples with some flour, sugar, and apple pie spice and put them in your pan. Then make a mixture of oats, melted butter, a little flour, sugar, and apple pie spice, and cover the apples with it. 

Then cook your crisp at 350 degrees for an hour or so. Then let it cool a little, top it off with vanilla ice cream if you're into that sort of thing, and dig in!

After this first attempt of mine was successful, and I realized how easy apple crisp is, I experimented and made another for my cousin's baby shower. I did it without sugar (honey instead) and added cranberries to the crumble mixture. One thing that I didn't do this second time around that I should have, was cover it with foil at the beginning to let the apples cook, then take it off to let the top crisp. I'm not sure why this one was different than the first one, probably something to do with not using sugar, or something like that. Anyways just a little tip. Besides being pretty crispy on the top everyone at the shower really liked it and that made me really happy.

After the baby shower, my mom and I went to an apple cider pressing party at one of her co-worker's houses, and it was such a blast! What a better way to get all the man power needed to make cider than to invite all your friends over for a pot luck? I can definitely see myself owning a press in the future and having awesome autumn parties like the one I attended. The cider tasted great too.

I feel like this will definitely become one of my go to dishes for a simple and healthy(ish) dessert. Have a wonderful week!

Naomi Odlin

Insight

So now you all get a little insight into how my mind works when I decide to cook.

Earlier this summer, I was really craving the vegan four bean chili from my school, so I decided to make some myself. We always have tons of cans of beans in our cupboard, so I sort of just put them all in a pot, with tomatoes and spices, and it was delicious! Whenever I'm trying a new recipe, or there's something I want to make, or we just have a bunch of a random ingredient that I simply want to get rid of, I usually head to Google or Pinterest to find a recipe. However, I don't actually follow the recipes usually, I sort of just get the main idea such as temperatures and times, then go off and do my own thing. Sometimes it works out great, other times I probably should have followed the recipe a little closer. But that's just how I cook, I'm sorry if anyone out there is horrified by not following instructions. I'm more experimental I suppose.

A couple days ago, when I got home from my new nannying job (now I have three!) I wanted to make chili for dinner, but I was also very tired so I didn't make this one as intense as I usually would. I didn't want to go through the emotional process of cutting onions (because they make you cry, get it??) so I nix them. We have way too many green peppers from our garden so I chopped a bunch of those, and we got tons of tomatoes from a friend (our tomatoes didn't do so well this season unfortunately) so I used those as well as some canned tomatoes.

Now before someone yells at me for using canned beans and food, I know it's probably not the best thing to use however they are quick and easy to use, and I don't really see anything wrong with using canned food, I mean people can things in their kitchen right? Maybe one day I'll see the light and stop using cans, however let me do this for now okay? Thanks.

Moving on! Here are some pictures of the chili making process, I actually remembered to document it this time around, I'm so proud of myself.

Add as many or as little beans as you want. I also add corn if we have any. I did peas one time because we had some frozen in the freezer and I just wanted to get rid of them. You could even add carrots or zucchini or any vegetables you want to I guess. And meat if you're into that sort of thing. I think chicken would work best.

Mix them all together, no water needed! The juices from the tomatoes are enough. I add a little olive oil as well. Put that pot on high!

While the pot is coming to a boil, I add tons of spices. I don't measure or limit myself to only using certain types of spices. I'm the type of cook that cooks with her nose, if it smells good I'll add it! Notice how I have no hot spices, my mom isn't big on spicy, though I am.

Get it to a good boil, then turn the temperature down to medium or medium low. Stir occasionally. Let it cook anywhere from a half hour to an hour and a half. I really think it just matters how hungry you are, how much you want all the flavors infused, and how it looks.

I turn my chili off when most of the water has evaporated (I tend to leave the cover off most of the time it's cooking) and everything is a nice brownish color. It just looks sort of gross because all the colors and flavors have infused!

Add cheese if you want to, stir, and enjoy! I ate way too much chili that night, but I can't limit myself I just love it so much. This is even a good recipe to make with kids since all you really do is put the ingredients in a pot then let it cook for a long time and that's it.

This is definitely my go to recipe. It has a lot of protein, and as a vegetarian it's good that I get as much of that as I can. You could even put this over pasta or quinoa if you wanted to, it's pretty versatile! Do you have any recipes you could use four days a week if you really wanted to? Let me know!

Naomi Odlin