Hello everyone! How is your week going so far? I have been loving the fall colors starting to pop and the recent stretches of sunny days we have had. If only things could continue this way!!

Some recent fall eats! (Loving all the apples and pears lately…)

One of my favorite fall/winter soups – chicken, brown rice, veggies (carrots, zucchini, kale and usually celery but I forgot to get it) along with plenty of oregano and rosemary! Eaten alongside some freshly baked sourdough. I generally like soups that are more of a “meal” on their own with plenty of texture variety versus a purely creamy/smooth soup. (Not that those aren’t also great sometimes too!)

Seasonal fall salad from Juicy Kitchen featuring roasted delicata squash, apples, dried cherries, roasted pumpkin seeds, and a maple tahini dressing on the side. Grilled chicken added for extra protein.

I love this salad so much I have been creating a version of it for home! Roasted sweet potatoes, chopped apple, roasted pepitas, dried cherries, and this maple tahini dressing recipe. Will definitely be eating this throughout the fall.

Tailgate food before the Michigan-Maryland game! Fabulous crab cakes with coleslaw and sweet potato fries. We also enjoyed some delicious apple cobbler/crisp of some sort! The tailgate my dad and his friends have unquestionably has the best food on game day!

I was a big fan of these apple pancakes that I topped with almond butter and maple syrup. More chopped honeycrisp with cinnamon on the side. I am trying to develop a “repertoire” of a few different pancake flavor combinations for each season. Wanting to also try some pumpkin chocolate chip pancakes for the fall. These were a winner!

For part of our dinner one evening I sautéed some red cabbage, zucchini, + onion with some olive oil, garlic, and plenty of Italian spices because those were the veggies I had in my fridge leftover from other dinners/recipes. I told Alec while we were eating this that sautéed zucchini is probably the worst veggie/veggie preparation in my opinion (maybe on par with eggplant??). Lol. Sometimes you just need to eat what you have and move on!! I like zucchini in other things or prepared other ways, but sautéed zucchini is just kind of boring if you ask me!

I posted this photo last week, but here is the recipe for the gingerbread energy bites I have been eating almost every day for my afternoon snack! I LOVE all things flavored gingerbread, pumpkin, chai, etc.

Kale Caesar salad with chopped cuc + cherry tomato, shredded parmesan, and homemade Caesar dressing. Served alongside crockpot BBQ pulled chicken, cornbread, and Asian sesame coleslaw for a dinner with friends. And a slice of coconut cream pie my friend brought!!

Simple slice of broccoli, corn, + parmesan frittata. Iowa corn courtesy of Alec’s mom makes this all the better!

Eaten alongside a side salad and slices of freshly baked sourdough. For a couple of months I was having trouble getting my sourdough to rise as much as I like, but it finally came out well this time!! I’m not totally sure what the problem was but I think part of it was that I was giving my starter a bit too much water and my dough was a bit too sticky… hopefully the problem is resolved for now… I tend to be a harsh critic when it comes to my sourdough!!

Piping hot shakshuka fresh off the stove for dinner – always the best! Eaten alongside more sourdough and salad.

Ginger molasses cookies that I made for lunch at church. These were good but I don’t think I liked them enough to make them again!

Creamy pumpkin pasta with plenty of fresh sage and toasted breadcrumbs. I was sad that I forgot to get peas and more parmesan at the store which I also like to add to this pasta dish! It was still tasty nonetheless.

Lastly, back to my overnight steel-cut oats for the fall/winter!! I make a big batch of about 8 servings in my Dutch oven which I then heat up in the microwave each morning. Topped with sesame seeds, peanut butter, honey and a honeycrisp apple with cinnamon. Eaten alongside some coffee + almond milk makes for the best breakfast! I find it hilarious that I just now finally understand why people like peanut butter so much… I used to always prefer almond butter but lately have been doing peanut butter so much more often!! I still like almond butter if I am having a fruit like pears or peaches in my oatmeal so still end up eating almond butter a lot.

Everyday Enjoyment: 

Not being in school/my internship: This is the first fall I have had in several years not being in school or my dietetic internship (which was also kind of like school with homework/outside assignments…ugh!). I can’t say I miss either of those things!!!! While things have been busy working on my private practice, I feel like I am slowly getting into more of a rhythm with things and am enjoying getting into more regular routines of fun/rest on evenings and weekends. I also like that my work feels generally more consistent than the sudden waves of busyness with school/internship when there was an exam, project due, etc.

Fun things to look forward to this season: Speaking of weekends, pretty much every weekend this fall we have several fun things to look forward to which keeps the season interesting! Some of the plans on deck are a camping weekend up north (hopefully not too cold…will report back later…), another weekend up north with some of my college friends (we are staying here which I’m excited about), a high school friend’s wedding, and both my brother and Alec’s 30th birthdays. And, of course, having college football to watch every Saturday is nice to look forward to each week! (Plus the upcoming start to the college basketball season…)

Walking/hiking around Ann Arbor more: Alec and I are trying to do more walks and hikes beyond just our neighborhood/nearby paths since there are so many areas to do that in AA! It can feel hard to find time with all the weekend plans and how it is getting dark so much earlier in the evenings, but we are hoping to make this happen more often. Especially since fall is the best time for that around here (no bugs, not yet super snowy and cold, etc.).

What dishes have you been enjoying this fall?
Leave any recipes I should try in the comments! 

Also, in case you missed it, check out my friend Allison’s podcast I was featured on! Allison’s podcast is a great source for info on gut health, hormonal health, nutrition, functional lab testing and more. I enjoy listening to it each week and always learn a lot!

Enjoy the rest of your week!!