I’m from New England which means we get all the seasons (and I love it!) With the change of seasons always comes a change in menu. Cooking produce and foods that are in season does not only keep things interesting but is cost effective and a much more sustainable way of life. I shared our winter essentials and meal ideas in the past so I wanted to tackle fall – my very favorite time of year to cook (!!!)
You can take a look at a full list of what’s in season throughout the year, but I am going to share our personal favorites below. These are the things that we keep on hand nearly every week. We’ll start with produce and move onto pantry… and then the best part: meal ideas!
Produce:
- Acorn squash
- Apples
- Bananas
- Bell peppers
- Broccoli
- Broccoli rabe
- Brussels Sprouts
- Butternut squash
- Cabbage
- Carrots
- Cauliflower
- Celery
- Collard Greens
- Cranberries
- Figs
- Garlic
- Ginger
- Grapes
- Green Beans
- Kale
- Lemons
- Mushrooms
- Onions
- Pears
- Peas
- Persimmons
- Pomegranate
- Potatoes
- Pumpkin
- Spaghetti squash
- Spinach
- Sweet Potatoes
- Swiss Chard
- Yams
A note on fruit: we love berries in this house and since they are antioxidant power-houses, we don’t want to go without them for months on end. Frozen strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries are AWESOME. Because fun fact: these berries are harvested when ripe so you are still getting the best of the best and can easily thaw for use. We love using berries on our oatmeal, toast, in smoothies, over pancakes/waffles… so many ways to enjoy them. Especially stewed! I’ll include that recipe below.
Pantry
The below items are not necessarily “in season” but the ingredients that complement the above and are used constantly in our home for our favorite fall recipes.
- Barley
- Basmati rice
- Brown rice
- Cashews
- Cinnamon
- Cloves
- Coconut sugar
- Couscous
- Crushed tomatoes (canned)
- Curry powder
- Date sugar
- Diced tomatoes (canned)
- Dried beans / legumes
- Full-fat or lite coconut milk
- Ginger
- Ground flaxseed
- Homemade veggie stock
- Jackfruit (canned)
- Lentils
- Nut butters
- Nutmeg
- Nutritional yeast
- Oats
- Pasta varieties (red lentil is our favorite)
- Pecans
- Pepitas
- Popcorn kernels
- Pumpkin purée
- Quinoa
- Ramen
- Red curry paste
- Rosemary
- Sage
- Textured vegetable protein
- Tomato paste (canned)
- Turmeric
- Unsweetened cocoa powder
- Walnuts
Breakfasts
- Carrot cake oats
- Eggless breakfast burrito
- Lemon ginger scones
- Pomegranate scones
- Sweet potato breakfast bowl
- Sweet potato and kale hash
- Warm fig, honey + cashew Cceam toast
Lunch/Dinners
- Broccoli rabe pasta
- Cauliflower + lentil stew
- Cauliflower & pistachio soup
- Coconut harvest bisque
- Coconut lentil stew
- Cream of mushroom pasta
- Loaded sweet potato with kale, pecans, quinoa, and tahini
- Peanut lentil stew
- Potato, pea, & chickpea curry
- Roasted cauliflower mac + cheese
- Roasted squash and sweet potato soup
- Spaghetti with fried garlicky cabbage
- Spicy garlic broccoli rabe
- Spicy mushroom soup
- Stuffed Jamaican-style collard greens
- Tomato, rabe, & olive penne
Sweets
- Apple cider donuts
- Apple crisp
- Apple pie
- Apples & date peanut butter dip
- Baked apples
- Butternut squash loaf
- Cinnamon applesauce (cubed, steamed with a few dashes of applesauce and juice from 1 orange, mashed up)
- Cinnamon pears (cubed, steamed in a bit of water with lots of cinnamon)
- Pumpkin loaf
- Pumpkin pie pudding
- Soft + chewy gingersnap cookies