Happy Wednesday!

I feel like the week is already flying by!

I am definitely happy that daylight savings time is now over and that the mornings are lighter earlier on. I find that having brighter daylight earlier in the morning makes such a difference to my day!!

In other news…our Book Club is starting next week on Tuesday! We will be going through Soul-Deep Beauty. It’s not too late to join us! Reading/commitment level is meant to be rather minimal. You can contact me if you are interested or if you would like more information. This is open to anyone!

Read on for some November culinary inspiration!

A couple of delicious salads from Ambitious Kitchen that I prepped! This one was a chickpea salad w/ chopped honeycrisp, celery, toasted pecans, dried cherries, chopped parsley, and a maple tahini dressing. (I used a slightly different maple tahini dressing recipe from the one in the AK recipe). We enjoyed this as a wrap for a couple of on-the-go dinners!

Moroccan quinoa salad w/ more chickpeas, dried cherries, parsley, yellow onion, toasted almonds, and warm curry spices. This was delicious on its own and also in a wrap with more maple tahini dressing!

I plan to keep this quinoa salad in the future rotation mix — would also be a good dinner side with chicken, steak, or salmon.

Lately I have been into making my own decaf chai tea. I simmer a mix of cinnamon sticks, whole cloves, allspice, + fresh ginger in water for ~15 mins and then add a few organic decaf black tea bags for ~5 more mins. I then add in plenty of almond milk. I store it in the fridge and have been drinking it cold or heated up/warm depending on how I’m feeling!

One of our favorite go-to salmon dinners of curry-spiced salmon w/ sesame seeds, roasted bell peppers + red onion, and coconut rice. To make coconut rice, simply add a can of coconut milk, “can” of rice, “half can” of water, + plenty of salt (to taste) to a pot, bring to a boil and then let simmer until the rice is done.

Pumpkin smoothie I’ve been loving from the Rise and Run cookbook. Blend of frozen cauliflower, carrot, honeycrisp apple, dates, walnuts, almond butter, and vanilla protein powder. (Slightly modified from the actual cookbook recipe). Making this in my beloved Vitamix makes for easy blending!

Topped w/ molasses tahini granola from the same cookbook!

I made a big pot of a delicious spicy peanut and sweet potato soup in the slow cooker. I needed a quick/easy make-ahead dinner, and I was pleasantly surprised with how well this turned out! Alec and I both agreed this soup will be making a regular appearance each fall/winter going forward. Topped w/ fresh cilantro and chopped peanuts.

We had LOTS of leftovers out of this meal which was wonderful!

Alec’s dad came to visit and we ventured out to Takoi in Detroit for Thai food. We shared several dishes, including (my favorite) the above beef kebob w/ pickled shallots and herbs. We also had the som tum Thai papaya salad, marinated chicken w/ sauces, + drunken noodles.

We also went to York in Ann Arbor where I had this beautiful oat milk latte!

My current oatmeal breakfast obsession is cold overnight oats w/ agave, plenty of peanut butter, and frozen/thawed blueberries + raspberries. Normally I am sad to be out of in-season berry season, but I have been absolutely loving the frozen berries with this breakfast! I buy the organic blueberries from Costco and have been keeping some thawed in the fridge. The organic raspberries I buy from Trader Joe’s and microwave them for ~30 seconds (max) so they don’t get too mushy.

Fall baking featuring pumpkin brownies and pumpkin chocolate chip muffins. Both from Alexis’ blog!

Instant Pot dinner of Thai butternut + cauliflower curry over quinoa. I like to add extra curry paste, extra spices, half a white onion instead of the onion powder, and this time also added some red bell pepper!

A delicious fall salad combo of kale, chopped honeycrisp, roasted delicata + butternut squashes, dried cherries, and more maple tahini dressing.

Quick and simple dinner of Juicy Kitchen quiche w/ roasted bell peppers, sweet potatoes, poblano peppers, jalapeño peppers, yellow onion, and manchego cheese. All baked in a Crust Bakery pie shell!

More salmon with the BEST (and easy) roasted red pepper sauce from Pinch of Yum! No debating, this sauce is going in my future recipe rotation! Would be amazing over chicken, on sandwiches, with eggs, you name it! This salmon was served with roasted brussels sprouts (my favorite!) and quinoa. Lately I have been buying the wild-caught salmon from Trader Joe’s.

Why has sourdough discard naan not been in my life until now?? Only a few quick ingredients – sourdough discard, flour, almond milk, salt, baking powder, and olive oil – and this delicious side comes to life. I have been wanting to make naan for a while and for some reason thought it would be more complicated / wouldn’t turn out. In fact, so easy and so delicious! Served w/ scrambled eggs w/ pepper jack cheese and roasted cauliflower + bell peppers. I have already made the naan two more times since then! (All in the past couple of days, lol).

Lastly… pumpkin pancakes and some cinnamon-sprinkled honeycrisp apples. I love to top my pancakes with peanut butter and maple syrup! Plenty of coffee w/ almond milk on the side. Fall mornings at their finest!

Everyday Enjoyment:

Yoga each week: Wednesdays are always a good mental health reset day for me… working at Juicy (being on my feet, baking, interacting w/ coworkers + customers) is always good for my mental health as well as my favorite yoga class afterwards! I especially enjoy going to yoga this time of year when the weather is colder and it feels so good to be in the yoga studio.

Thinking about sunlight!: I am currently reading Chasing the Sun which I am finding fascinating! It is all about how sunlight affects our brains + bodies. There is a lot that I am learning about regarding our circadian rhythms, vitamin D, and mental/physical health (as it pertains to sunlight). As an April baby, I also found it interesting that the author pointed out how several studies have found higher rates of anorexia in people who were born in the spring (possibly due to mothers receiving less sunlight during pregnancy). Obviously that is just one minor/potential factor, but something interesting nonetheless! I do think it is clear that sunlight exposure has a big effect our our moods, circadian rhythms, and overall health! Apparently spring is a less-than-ideal time to be born as far as stats for other mental health conditions go, too.

Holiday baking ideas: I always like to think about Thanksgiving + Christmas baking ideas as the holidays get closer! I’m not sure what my baking future holds, but some interesting ideas include Mexican hot chocolate cookies, festively-decorated shortbread cookies, gingerbread pudding cakes, and a kabocha squash cake w/ chai caramel. Alec’s birthday is the same day as Thanksgiving, so I do have plans to make a chocolate cake! 🙂

Any favorite Christmas or Thanksgiving baking recipes??
Last year I made a peppermint cheesecake that I loved!

What does the rest of your fall look like?
Alec’s mom is coming this weekend, we have Alec’s bday + Thanksgiving,  and, of course, THE game, the Michigan/Ohio State game… 

Enjoy the rest of your day!