Favorite Fall Recipes - Lunches

If you're just tuning in... I'm in the middle of series that's all about fall foods that we love!  Earlier this week, I shared our favorite fall breakfasts - so, up next is our favorite fall lunches :)

{lasagna soup}

Now, in all truthfulness, Frog Prince and I typically have sandwiches {on our favorite whole wheat bread} and leftovers for our lunches during the week -- so this post should really be titled "weekend lunches" ... but, alas, they are indeed lunches!

We'll start off with a selection of breads that are best accompanied by a steaming hot bowl of soup:

Artesian Peasant Bread

{makes excellent bread bowls}

No-Knead Fococcia Bread

Cheesy Biscuits




Crescent Rolls



Whole Wheat Tortillas....
perfect for quesadillas!



Maybe Spinach and Mushroom?
Or, zucchini, black bean and carrot?

Moving on to the accompanying soups we love this time of year:

Crockpot Chicken Spinach Soup



The Best Minestrone Soup



Italian Wedding Soup



Meatball Tortellini Soup



Roasted Red Pepper Soup



And, of course, no list of soups would be complete without...
Mom's Turkey Noodle Soup
{with homemade drop noodles!}

How about you, what soups are on your "must-make" list for fall?

This recipe is linked to:

• Colleen's Kitchen Recipe Swap

Sweet and Russet Potato Pan Fries

Fall is in the air and I love it!  Maybe it's the temperature, or the brisk fall air, but I like to eat potatoes in the fall.

Comfort food -- cozy food, for chilly fall days.

I decided to try a new pan fry recipe, the promised to be crunchy-on-the-outside and chewy-on-the-inside.

They were both!  Although I'm sure my final product doesn't look like what Cook's Illustrated intended :)

Sweet and Russet Potato Pan Fries - Adapted from Cook's Illustrated
{Print Recipe}

4-5 medium potatoes, cubed*
water, enough to cover the potatoes in 1 inch
salt and pepper
2-4 T butter

Cube the potatoes and place them in a large skillet.  Cover the potatoes with water (about 1 inch of water), and sprinkle in 1 tsp (or more) of salt.

Bring the potatoes to a boil and simmer for 2-3 minutes, until potatoes are slightly tender.

Drain the water and rinse the potatoes.

While potatoes are draining, add butter to the skillet and melt the butter.

Return potatoes to the skillet and cook on one side for 2-3 minutes until nicely browned.

Then, flip the potatoes and continue cooking another 2-3 minutes until browned.

Continue rotating and cooking until potatoes are crunchy on all sides.

Season with salt and pepper, as desired. And, add paprika, for a nice color!

Serve warm!

YUM!

*I used sweet potatoes and russet potatoes



This post is linked to:

• What's Cooking Wednesday
• Recipe Swap Thursday

Favorite Fall Recipes

I don't know about you, but I'm a big fan of seasonal recipes -- recipes made from ingredients that are in-season!  There's something special about waiting all year for particular recipes, and now that fall is here, I wanted to share with you some of my favorite fall recipes.  

As a disclaimer for these recipes, we use sweet potatoes in place of pumpkin due to Frog Prince's allergy... therefore, any recipe we use sweet potato puree can easily be adapted to your pumpkin taste buds!  So, if pumpkin is in short supply in your area -- try sweet potato puree instead :)

Up first -- our favorite fall breakfasts!

Apple Cinnamon French Toast

Sweet Potato Waffles

Apple Cinnamon Rolls

Apple Muffins

{the best}

Sweet Potato Muffins

Apple Cinnamon Baked Oatmeal

Apple Cranberry Granola

Crustless Apple Pie

{on top of oatmeal}

Sweet Potato Chocolate Chip Bread

Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal Bread

What are your favorite fall breakfast recipes?  



This post is liked to:

• Tasty Tuesday

Menu Plan - September 26

Last week I tried adding a to-do list for each day to help me remember what to prep for the meals the next day.  For most days, it worked out great -- except when I forgot to make French Bread at the beginning of the week!  Oh well.  I've heard it takes 21 days to form a habit.  I'll keep at it.

Recently, I've received a few questions about how I menu plan and make my grocery list based on my menu. A few months ago I wrote a series about how we eat healthy on a budget which might be helpful in answering some of these questions.  But - I use three easy steps for making my menu plan and corresponding grocery list:

What is our week going to be like?  Which nights do I need something fast, which nights do I have a little more time to prepare dinner?

What's on sale?  We keep a good stockpile in our kitchen, so we always have the basics on hand.  When special items go on sale, we got to our "go-to" recipes that contain that ingredient {did you know, you can search by ingredient on the right sidebar of my blog?}.  That is the basis for the meals we choose for our menu each week.

What ingredients do I need to complete each recipe?  I sit down one night with my blog, weekly ads and as I choose the recipe for our menu, I open the recipe and skim the ingredients.  Any ingredients we don't have go on the grocery list.  If we have coupons for that item, I pull those too and then leave the list with the coupons all ready for grocery shopping.  Right now, I'm preparing menus on Thursday night and Frog Prince is shopping on Friday.  

So -- do you menu plan?  If you do, how do you do it?

Last week, we enjoyed:

100% Whole Wheat Buttermilk Pancakes

Crockpot Chicken

Chicken Stock

Penne with Spinach and Chicken

Cherry BBQ Chicken
{recipe to come}

Sweet and Russet Potato Home Fries
{recipe to come}

Raspberry Oatmeal and Chocolate Chip Pancakes
{recipe to come}

Grilled Pizza

Cheesy Broccoli Potato Soup

Goulash
{recipe to come}

This week is a short week with our college's fall break on Friday -- and we're having a garage sale!  Time to get rid of extra stuff.  Our weekend meals are going to be easy crockpot meals to enjoy in between the garage sale and our kitchen remodeling.  

Sunday
B - Berry Oatmeal Crumble
L - Clean out the fridge/leftovers
D - Cheesy Chicken Bacon and Rice Soup {new}
{To do: make bread, slice mushrooms, dice asparagus}

Monday 
B - Scramble Melt
D - Mushroom and Asparagus Quiche
{To do: Dice bell peppers, make muffins}

Tuesday
B - Apple Muffins
D - Un-stuffed Pepper Skillet
{To do: Make penne dish for fridge}


Wednesday
B - Oatmeal with Skillet Apples
D - Penne with Spinach and Chicken

Thursday
B - Granola, cherries
D - Leftovers
{To Do: Pull out chicken legs, cook sweet potatoes}

Friday {Garage sale, and fall break}
B - Pumpkin Granola {new}
L - Grandma's Sloppy Joe's and whole wheat rolls
D - Crockpot Lemon Herby Chicken, brown rice and steamed veggies
Dessert - The Great Pumpkin Cookies

Saturday {Garage sale, and celebrating my sister's birthday!}
B - Maple Oat Scones {new}
L - Crockpot Chicken Spinach Soup
D - Chicken Alfredo Bake, French Bread with Garlic Butter {new}
Dessert - Birthday Cake Special!

Friday Favorites

It's finally FRIDAY!!  You know... that means it's time for me to share all the recipes I've been drooling over all week long!  Hope some of these inspire your weekend cooking!  

6 cheese filled crepes with tomato alfredo and italian sausage... yum!

Recipe Shoebox

Cheesy Chicken, Bacon and Rice Soup

The Picky Palate

Ham and Sweet Potato Hash 

My Kitchen Cafe

Nut-Free Granola

Lynn's Recipe Adventure

Cheddar Chive Spoon Bread

A Cozy Kitchen

Italian Chicken Melts

Eat At Home

Raspberry Swirl Blondies

Let's Dish

Stuffed French Toast

Newlyweds

BLT Pasta

Megan's Cookin'

French Toast with Maple Peaches

Prairie Story

Chocolate and Pumpkin Shortbread Bars

The Picky Palate

Pasta with Pumpkin Sauce

Indigo's Sugar Spectrum

No-Bake Granola Bars

{nut-free!}

Lynn's Kitchen Adventure

Pumpkin Ice Cream

{egg-free}

My McDonald Meal

Homemade Italian Sausage and Roasted Red Pepper Lentil Stew
Eats Well with Others

Creamy Apple Quesadillas
Out of the Box and Into the Kitchen

Mint Dark Chocolate Squares

Yesterday afternoon my dear friend, Lucy, gave birth to a beautiful baby girl!!

And, if I lived close enough to stop by for the afternoon, these mint dark chocolate squares are just what I'd bring over for the new mom and dad :)

My mom used to make these bars for us when we were younger -- they are nice and chocolaty and have a delightful mint flavor!  Great for a mid-afternoon pick-me-up :)

Mint Dark Chocolate Squares - Mom
{Print Recipe}

1 recipe dark chocolate brownies {minus chocolate chips, and + 1/4 C bread flour)
4 T butter, softened
1 1/4 C powdered sugar
1 T milk
1/2ish tsp. mint extract
4-6 drops green food coloring
3/4 C dark chocolate chips
3 T butter

Begin by making the brownies (9x9 pan), adding in an extra 1/4 C bread flour and eliminating the chocolate chips.  Bake according to directions, and then cool.

Next, cream together the softened butter, powdered sugar, milk, mint extract and green food coloring.  Spread the mint layer over the cooled brownies.

Then, melt the 3T butter and dark chocolate chips together slowly in the microwave or over medium heat.  Stir well.  Cool the chocolate layer to around room temperature, and then spread over the mint layer.

My mom's notes say to store the recipe in the fridge, but, my mom typically leaves them at room temperature.  They won't last too long....!

Enjoy!



This post is linked to:

Delicious Dishes
Ingredient Spotlight

Tomato Basil Bruschetta

A while back, one of my long-time blog readers, Jessika, sent me a "you must make this" recipe for Bruschetta.

It's not often that I think about making bruschetta -- but we had some leftover french bread and I thought this might be a great way to use it up!

I love that this recipe uses simple ingredients, and the flavor was amazing!  Thanks for sending the recipe my way, Jessika -- this was great!

Tomato Basil Bruschetta - Adapted from Jessika
{Print Recipe}

4 roma tomatoes
4-5 garlic cloves, minced
3 tsp. basil (dried)
1/2 T olive oil
sea salt
French baguette

Combine diced tomatoes, basil, garlic and olive oil in a large bowl.  Stir to mix the flavors.

 Then, cover and refrigerate for a minimum of 2 hours.

Preheat the oven to 400.  Meanwhile, slice the baguette into slices about 1 inch thick.

Place the bread onto a cookie sheet.

Lightly brush olive oil onto the bread (both sides) and return the bread to the cookie sheet.

Then, top with the tomato, garlic, basil mixture.

 Grind some sea salt (and pepper, if desired) over the top of the bruschetta.

Toast the bruschetta in the oven for 10-15 minutes, until slightly toasted.

Enjoy!



ps - I love getting recipes from you!  If you have a great one I need to try, send it my way!

Cherry BBQ Pork Ribs

One of the stipulations of our home purchase (and me getting to do all sorts of fun things in our kitchen) was that Frog Prince would be able to have a grill.

We watched and waited for an excellent end-of-the-summer sale on the model we wanted, and ended up getting an even better deal than we imagined!  Frog Prince couldn't wait to try it out.

Frog Prince chose ribs and cherry BBQ sauce for his first meal made on the grill.  

It was a good choice if you ask me :)

Cherry BBQ Pork Ribs - Finding Joy in My Kitchen

1 rack of pork ribs
1/2-3/4 C cherry BBQ sauce

Preheat the grill to about 350 degrees.

Then, place the ribs onto the grill and slowly cook them for 1 1/2 hours, turning 2-3 times during the cooking process.

 Check to make sure the internal temperature of the ribs has reached the safe level.

10 minutes before serving brush on the cherry BBQ sauce -- and reduce the heat on the grill at this point so the BBQ sauce doesn't burn.

Serve warm... with lots of napkins and extra cherry BBQ sauce!

Enjoy!

Menu Plan - September 19

This past week, our menu plan worked out pretty nicely.  We didn't try a ton of new recipes, but certainly enjoyed some good eats:

Sweet Potato Waffles

Tuscan Lemon Chicken

Chicken Pot Pie

with herby biscuits

Potato Soup

Apple Cranberry Granola



Christmas Eggs



Whole Wheat Apple Cake



Breakfast {Oven} Potatoes



Spiced Country Applesauce



Grandma's Sloppy Joe's
with whole wheat rolls

Over the weekend, my Father-in-Law and family friend came to visit us for the first time!  We did lots of grilling {steaks and brats}, potato pockets, corn and enjoyed yummy dark chocolate mint squares for dessert {thanks mom!}.   I'll share that recipe later this week.  

We enjoyed spending time with them, and got to take in two baseball games while they were here!

I'm starting to add a to-do list under each day's menu... this is to help me manage my time so that we don't end up getting ready for dinner the next night and are missing a key ingredient!  Hopefully this to-do list helps :)  Do any of you do this with your menus?  

Sunday
B - Buttermilk pancakes, maple syrup, fresh fruit
L - Leftovers
D - Crockpot Chicken, Sweet Potatoes and Veggies
{make broth, prep dinner for Monday, make oat bars}

Monday
B - Raspberry Oat Bars {new}
D - Penne with Spinach and Chicken, apple sauce
{make French Bread}

Tuesday
B - Leftover pancakes, fresh fruit/apple sauce
D - French Bread Pizza, steamed veggies

Wednesday
B - Granola with blueberries
D - Grilled BBQ Chicken {using cherry BBQ sauce}, brown rice and veggies
Dessert - Apple Brownies {new}
{soak oats and buttermilk for the pancakes overnight}

Thursday
B - Raspberry Oat and Chocolate Chip Pancakes {new}
D - Leftovers

Friday
B - Apple Cranberry Granola
D - Grilled Pizza (BBQ Chicken, spinach/mushroom), grilled veggies
{pull pizza dough out of the freezer}

Saturday
B - TBD {we like to choose something fun to make on Saturdays!}
L - Cheesy Broccoli Potato Soup
D - Grilling with new friends after apple picking!!