I love the fall season. It’s such a beautiful season, full of changing light and colours. I really love the way the sunlight seems to glow and is softer and there’s nothing I love better than seeing the leaves turn red and orange.
With fall of course, comes some changes in our personal comforts. We begin to layer on sweaters, we start to turn more and more to warm beverages. It’s the season of pumpkin spice after all!
In the fall we all turn towards warmer meals as wells. I personally love soups and having soup in the fall after a summer of cooler dishes of salads really hits the spot. Today, I want to share you with you some of the fall dishes that I make that are favourites and that I find filling and comforting–and yummy.
Butternut Squash Soup
It’s likely not fall if you are not preparing some of sort of squash dish. Squash is so abundant in the fall and butternut squash soup is a perfect fall dish. I make mine with onions and some butter and olive oil and use either vegetable or chicken broth. I season the soup with either thyme or sage, and then use my immersion blender. I keep my recipe pretty basic and just let the butternut squash shine.
Soups are great and I am definitely a soup girl, so I love making soups and bringing leftovers for lunch on work days.
Other soups I think are great and like to make are minestrone, split pea soups and broccoli cheddar soup. Soups are great way to get in your veggies and create really healthy meals from scratch.
Shepard’s Pie
I really think this is a great fall meal. Talk about filling, it’s your meat and potatoes rolled into a one pan meal with some veggies baked in. I’ve used several recipes including creations of my own to make Shepard’s pie, and I don’t exactly have a favourite recipe. Some I have liked better than others, and some I ended up up binning.
A recipe I do like is Gordan Ramsey’s Shepard’s pie–I like a lot of his recipes and this one is restaurant quality.
I do like meals like this include foods from several food groups as that makes for a well rounded meal, and I think that’s really important so that we are getting a nutrient rich meal, and I think a lot of us can find the fall and winter both wonderful (sweater weather! pumpkin pie!) and challenging as the days get shorter and we are busy with back to school transitions and changes in routine, so meals that are one pan and have your protein and veggies are good options for what can be a busy season.
Red Wine Braised Beef Stew
My husband is a big meat eater, and I am not so much due to that fact that I have OTC deficiency. But I do eat meat and this is a great meal that we can both enjoy that doesn’t take too much time.
Full discourse, we decided to sign up to America’s Test Kitchen and used one of their recipes, so we make our stew following their Instant Pot recipe because that saves so much time. However, I am sure Pinterest can provide you with a ton of recipes, so do not despair, I did find another recipe on Allrecipes that looks similar and uses a slow cooker, but I haven’t tried this personally.
It ought be pretty obvious why this is a great comfort meal–it’s a stew and therefore warming. It’s savoury as well and has some veggies in it so it’s a well rounded one pot meal and in our house, we like meals that are one pot/pan or use the Instant Pot because it really saves us a lot of prep and time, and with a little one in the house, we simply need to get dinner cooked. Warming, filling meals are perfect for fall as the weather cools and our bodies seem to start to seek heavier meals.
Fettuccine Alfredo
My husband and I have this dish from time to time and I have to admit, it’s one of my favourites. We are largely gluten free, so we switch out the pasta for a chickpea pasta that is gluten free, and the sauce is so good that even if we have it with a gluten free pasta we prefer less than the chickpea pasta, the dish is still delicious. That just tells you how good the sauce is. The recipe that has this stellar sauce is Jamie Oliver’s fettuccine alfredo and we have been making this for years now.
This is a really quick and delicious meal and so perfect for the fall months as it feature nutmeg as a finishing and I’m telling you, don’t skip the nutmeg or the truffle oil as they both turn a basic pasta dish into something really flavourful.
Mushroom Risotto
I adore mushroom risotto. I have tired so many recipes and methods that I can’t really recommend a single one. But some basics in most recipes I use are mushrooms (naturally) onions, garlic and parmesan cheese. I’ve seasoned with thyme, but I’ve also seasoned with lemon juice and white wine. I’ve used fresh mushrooms in some recipes, and fresh and dried in others. I have also used vegetable broth in some recipes and chicken broth in others, and I think that I prefer using chicken broth. So I have tweaked recipes and tried different things.
The most important thing about mushroom risotto is that you use a good arborio rice or you won’t get that creamy texture. Parmesan cheese is of course, a must, but having the right sort of rice will make the dish.
Final Thoughts
I hope some of these are suggestions that inspire you and that make your homemaking life easier. I know how hard it is to prepare good meals that everyone likes, that are easy and delicious, especially on week nights when all everybody wants to do is kick back and relax after a day of work and school. Even if you aren’t the only one in the household who cooks the meals, making dinner can be the one chore that we face with dismay because it comes at the end of a day of hard work and requires time and energy–and we can be short of both time and energy on weeknights especially so I wanted to share some favourite dishes in our house that I think are perfect for the fall season.
Which recipe will you try? Share in the comments!