Healthy Fall Recipes to Make on Busy Weeknights

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Healthy Fall Recipes to Make on Busy Weeknights | This Miss Cooks

The leaves are turning, the smell of Pumpkin Spice Lattes is in the air, and I have heard the words Hocus Pocus mentioned at least once a day for the past two weeks. Friends, I do believe it’s Fall and I could not be any happier. Well, I suppose that’s a lie but I don’t think the human stomach was made to hold 15 boxes of Girl Scout cookies so I will settle for this.

I talked about how I’m crafting my Fall To-Do List recently, and I’m putting the finishing touches on it now. Think apple picking, corn mazes, pumpkin patches and some frightfully fun costumes come Halloween. Oh, and the most Autumnal-themed trip to Trader Joe’s you ever did see. More on that little interlude between me and the hallowed aisles Friday.

Healthy Fall Recipes to Make on Busy Weeknights | This Miss CooksPhoto by Alisa Anton on Unsplash

When I was coming up with my menu plan for the week, I had two major goals.

  1. Embrace the season with warm, comforting foods
  2. Don’t get stuck in the kitchen and miss out on the fun Fall events
  3. Pumpkin

Okay I guess that was three things, but to be fair I too didn’t know I’d be walking out of Costco with 3 giant cans of the good stuff until I was hefting it into the trunk of our car and explaining to Mr Never Cooks that I had a plan (sort of).

Let us not slave in the kitchen…

I will never stop saying this: your slow cooker is a gift from the culinary gods, embrace it warmly and it shall provide. Seriously though, show me a halfway decent recipe that doesn’t either feed a crowd or make enough leftovers to keep you happy throughout the week. Especially for the chili that’s so popular right now all the way on through to Super Bowl Sunday, dinner leftovers are delightful over a roasted (or hell, microwaved) sweet potato, spaghetti squash or any kind of grain. I’m making this Slow Cooker Black Bean Pumpkin Turkey Chili from Ambitious Kitchen one night and this Thai Green Curry from Kojo Designs another.

Prep fast, eat slow

Just because your meals are already done when you arrive home doesn’t mean you need to scarf it down while standing in the kitchen with your adorable little suede booties still on. I’m planning on savoring my meals this Fall to make sure I’m getting the most out of my hard work. Mr Never Cooks will love this, he can never seem to get me to sit still for dinner these days. With wedding planning ramping up, it’s a good time to talk about what we care about most for our big day. It’s particularly exciting because we’ll be getting hitched right around this time next year!

Healthy Fall Recipes to Make on Busy Weeknights | This Miss CooksPhoto by Samantha Gades on Unsplash

Don’t forget the best meals of the day

My favorite will always and forever be breakfast. Honestly, how can you not love it just by the name alone. You get to break a fast with delightful food, it’s coffee-adjacent, and you can justify buying pumpkin-flavored yogurt just for the occasion. This week I’m making these Banana Quinoa Breakfast Bars and topping them with the aforementioned yogurt from Trader Joe’s.

I’ll also be pulling together my perfect Fall kale salad recipe which I’m excited to share with you all!

What are you excited to make, bake, or munch on this Fall?

21 thoughts on “Healthy Fall Recipes to Make on Busy Weeknights”

    • By the time winter rolls around I had better be turning orange from all the pumpkin I’ve consumed or I’ll consider myself the worst sort of failure! I think my heart skips a beat the second I see acorn squash go on ridiculous sales for around a $1 each at my local store.

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    • What kind of apple pie persona are you? The 10 varietals in one, the tart-lover, the lattice crust-maker? 😉 I was a late bloomer in my love of pumpkin so I haven’t made pumpkin bread before. Do you have any recipes you love?

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      • Um I have no idea lol. I cheated an used a premade crust. If I had to guess, this one was a combination of sweet and tart without being overpowering? But that could be because of the apples I used.
        Yes I do have one I love! It’s actually from my late grandmother’s friend and I had it at the funeral when I was 5. Two years ago I asked my mom for the recipe because the woman was kind enough to send it and I still love it. I planned on sharing it in a few weeks when I make it 🙂

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      • It’s not cheating, it’s just selectively choosing where to place your effort! I used to be a sweet-only kind of apple pie maker, but I’m really starting to love the tart flavors mixed in.

        I’m so glad you’ll be posting it, I can’t wait!

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      • Selectively choosing sounds much better than cheating, I love it. Now you have me curious! I used golden delicious apples which are a balance of sweet and tart according to Google. It worked well in the pie.

        I’ll try to have it up soon! I may need to give my waistline a break after this pie ha.

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      • I remember we went apple picking last year and they had this big old map of the archard with complicated descriptions and histories of the varieties of apples, plus a sweet-tart rating and suggested uses in pies and whatnot. It blew my mind!

        And I hear you on that, I’m try to figure out all of the ways to eat pumpkin that’s not a (tasty) baked good so I can enjoy it a little more this season. So far a spoon to the can has worked rather well, though my fiance did look at me a little oddly thing morning. 😉

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      • That’s crazy! The orchard we went to just had a map with the apples that we could pick circled. Alex and I googled what could be used for baking.

        I just saw a recipe for pumpkin pasta that looks really good! I’m a super picky eater so for me to branch out is a big deal. I’ve never spooned it out right from the can ha! I wonder why your fiancé looks at you with a weird look 🙂

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