A Fall Feast!

Long time, no post! Although I've been busy with classes, I have been snapping a few pictures of the meals I have made. I will update those past meals later.

Well, fall is here- whether or not Mother Nature would like to admit it. I've welcomed this season by embracing some of its special ingredients today. All of these dishes below were cooked in one afternoon. I won't go into great deal about the meals, like I usually do, but I'll give some feedback below.



Savory Pumpkin Muffins
-With feta, parm reg, spinach, and walnuts. I'm no baker, but these turned out great.
Recipe modified from: 101 Cookbooks





Bacon, Bean, and Veggie Soup
-Uncured bacon, onion, celery, sweet potatoes, white northern beans and rosemary. It's sweet, savory, and has a hint of hickory smoke. The trick is sauteing the bacon, and then sweating the veggies in the bacon grease and scraping up those little burnt bits of black magic on the bottom of the pot.

This is a spinoff of a classic cold-weather soup my mom used to make. Usually I make it with diced, boiled ham, red potatoes, and sage.


-My ill-vented apartment will probably smell like bacon for days. GOD BLESS IT!

Herbed Spaghetti Squash
-Extra virgin olive oil, chopped parsley, minced garlic, salt n pepa. Spaghetti squash blew my mind when I first saw how it was prepared. You can microwave or bake it. I used a little muscle to slice the squash in half, scoop the seeds out (more on that below), and then placed them cut-side down in an oven at 400 degrees for about 30mins. Afterwards, I just pulled the sheet pan out and let the squash cool, but still continue steaming on the cut side. To serve, just take a fork and grate the inside of the squash. The flesh comes off in strands, like spaghetti.



It's a great side dish for any meal, especially if you want to skip some carbs.


Roasted Pumpkin and Squash Seeds
-Olive oil, kosher salt, garlic powder, black pepper, red chili flake. Don't waste the seeds! When roasted in the oven, they get a crunchy, nutty flavor. Eat the entire seed- they are full of fiber. There are a ton of recipes for flavors, both salty and sweet. Give me a bowl full of these over potato chips any time of the year.



It's amazing to see the colors on this sheet pan change from before and after the roasting process. It's like watching the leaves change colors right before your eyes.