We had such a great meal last night to welcome October.
I know autumn officially starts in September, but October 1st just seems to really signal that it is time for fall.
Sit-down meals with our whole family have been a little scarce lately with farming, basketball, and Roger's "real" job taking us in different directions at meal time, but not tonight.
I tried a few new recipes yesterday and thought I would share. I would say that a good 95% of the new-to-me recipes I use come from my "Recipes to Try" Pinterest board. That really is just so handy for keeping up with things I want to make. Our main dish was just roast beef in the crockpot, but we tried a couple of new side dishes and a dessert.
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| Honey and Herb Roasted Root Vegetables from MyRecipes |
I'm not really sure why, but I love chopping vegetables, so I went a little crazy on this dish. We'll be eating roasted veggies for a few days. But the fun thing is that tonight my kids gladly ate butternut squash, fennel, parsnip, beets and potatoes. They really aren't too picky most of the time, but they were a bit skeptical watching me chop a few of the veggies they hadn't tried before, namely the fennel and beets.
Since there were so many vegetables in that first dish, I was having a hard time trying to figure out what else to make. Growing up we always had at least two side dishes for every meal so it just feels wrong not to do that, especially when this was kind of a special night. So when I saw this recipe for Simple Barley Pilaf from Mel's Kitchen Cafe I knew I would try it. I have quite a bit of barley in my pantry for some reason and have been looking for new ways to use it. (This salad is another excellent use for it.) I was sure I would enjoy it, but a little worried about everyone else. My kids love rice, but Roger isn't really a fan of most grain-type dishes. When Wyatt took his first bite, he thanked me and said it tasted like cheesy rice. There's no cheese in it, but both he and Carson really liked it.
And for dessert...Pumpkin Blondies! Pumpkin and chocolate chips just go together, don't they? This recipe was really good, but I would consider it more of a cake than blondies. Definitely recommend!
What are your favorite "fall" foods?
***Excited to finally be linking up with Debbie for Tuesdays at the Table again!****
A feast indeed! That all sounds yummy!
ReplyDeleteYay - what fun was this?! I must say I really love roasted veg, so am interested to try that recipe - I too have found that fennel is a great addition. And beets of course! Love that Wyatt thanked you. ;-) Welcome back!!
ReplyDeleteI'm in such a rut with cooking! Maybe I should try looking at pinterest recipes for inspiration! off to follow your board!
ReplyDeleteI'm impressed! Those pumpkin blondies look delish.
ReplyDeletesound delicious! We made pumpkin, oatmeal, chocolate chip muffins Sunday evening for breakfasts this week and they're almost gone already! I may check out that barley recipe, because I was trying to decide what to make for dinner right now...
ReplyDeleteYum! Roasted veggies is one of my favorite things! I have many favorite fall foods, almost all of which have pumpkin, ginger, or butternut squash in them. I make a sage/bacon/pumpkin lasagna which is pretty good, and of course butternut squash soup with ginger and leeks, and we just had pumpkin chocolate chip pancakes the other night...I could go on and on. I used to have a pumpkin party every October with an entire autumn menu. People used to start asking me in August when it was s they could get it on their calendar. I stopped doing it once we had 3 kids under 3 years old...but every year I feel I should be getting ready for that party!
ReplyDeleteOh you would so hate the food I serve - you just happen to have barley, I wouldn't even know where to buy it!
ReplyDeleteSounds good to me (Hadders obviously hasn't looked too closely in the 'healthy foods' section of Tesco lately ;o) )
ReplyDeleteI have to wonder where you are finding fennel, beets and barley around here.
ReplyDeleteMy sons and I are with your husband - not a real fan of grain dishes but we will eat them.
My favorite fall foods are apple dishes of any type - I can put 'em in almost everything, soups and breads. I just made some sourdough this week.