Tag Archives: fall

Pumpkin Season – a collection of fall favorites!

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The leaves are brilliant, the mornings are misty, apples crisp.. it’s scarves & boots weather.. oh and pumpkins! Pumpkin lattes, pumpkin bread, pumpkin cookies, pumpkin pie… well, I could go on and on, but instead, here is a collection of fall (pumpkin) favorites to help you enjoy Pumpkin Season! 🙂

Blog Paleo Pumpkin Bread

Paleo Pumpkin Bread

Blog Paleo Pumpkin Muffin Cupcakes with Paleo Pumpkin Frosting-1

Lauren’s amazing Pumpkin Muffin Cupcakes with Pumpkin Frosting

Blog pumpkinsoup1

Pumpkin Soup topped with bacon and chives

Breakfast & Breads

Sweet

Soup

Savory

dit-elle-Esther

Ruby Root Slaw

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Raw carrots and beets are grated and tossed in an olive oil & vinegar dressing. A crispy delicate salad, delicious and full of freshness! 🙂

Blog beetsalad

Ingredients

  • 3 Tbsp olive oil
  • 3 Tbsp red wine vinegar
  • 1 Tbsp honey
  • salt/pepper to taste
  • 3 red beets, peeled and grated (use the grater setting on your food processor!)
  • 2 large carrots, peeled and grated
  • 1 apple, peeled and grated
  • 1/4 c toasted chopped walnuts (optional)
  • 2 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley

Directions

  • In large bowl, whisk oil, vinegar, honey, salt and pepper.
  • Toss the dressing with beets, carrots, and apple.
  • Refrigerate for an hour or more to let flavors meld.
  • Fold in walnuts and parsley before serving

dit-elle-Esther

Salmon, potato and spinach soup

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I’ve been making a lot of soups recently – especially since we are having this unusual cold spell with temps in the teens at night and barely above 32 in the day! Brrr…! Hot soup to the rescue – easy, yummy and quick!

Blog salmonspinachsoup

 

Ingredients

  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 1 leek (white and pale-green parts only) — halved, rinsed and thinly sliced (or 1 onion, chopped)
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 4-8 small red or gold potatoes, scrubbed and halved (some paleo purists don’t eat white potatoes, so cauliflower would be a great substitute)
  • Salt and pepper, to taste
  • 5 cups vegetable or chicken stock
  • 1 1/2 pounds salmon fillet — skinned, boned and cut into 1-inch cubes
  • 1/2 cup half-and-half (or coconut milk for paleo)
  • 1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill  (I used 1 tsp dry)
  • 5 ounces baby spinach

Directions

  • Melt butter in a heavy sauce pot over medium heat.
  • Add leek and garlic, stirring occasionally, until leek is soft, about 5 minutes.
  • Stir in potatoes and cauliflower; season with salt and pepper.
  • Pour in stock and bring to a boil.
  • Reduce heat to a simmer and cook until vegetables are fork tender, 7 to 9 minutes.
  • Add salmon and simmer until just cooked through, 3 to 5 minutes.
  • Stir in half-and-half, dill and spinach and briefly cook until spinach wilts and soup is heated through.

You can make this paleo by substituting coconut milk for the dairy.

dit-elle-Esther

Paleo Spaghetti.. before the Italians even invented Spaghetti!

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I was inspired by Elana’s Pantry’s post on how to EASILY make Spaghetti Squash. It IS super easy, super fun, and makes super awesome paleo noodles! 🙂 Yes it takes a while to bake, but plan ahead, throw this squash in the oven while you are doing other things and the actual preparation part (scraping out the flesh into noodles takes <1 minute)! Serve with a hearty Bolognese meat sauce, like this Paleo Sloppy Joe’s sauce, or simply as a dessert with some butter (or coconut butter) and cinnamon! 🙂

Blog spaghettisquash2 Blog spaghettisquash1 blog spaghettisquash_cinnamon3 Blog spaghettisquash_cinnamon2 Blog spaghettisquash_cinnamon1

Ingredients

  • One large spaghetti squash (~3 lbs)

Directions

  1. Place whole (uncut) spaghetti squash on a parchment paper lined baking sheet
  2. Bake at 350° for 60-80 minutes
  3. Allow to cool
  4. Cut squash open (long side) with a knife
  5. Scoop out seeds
  6. Scrape the flesh out of the squash into stringy noodles
  7. Voila!

dit-elle-Esther

Carmelized Onion Tart

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This is a delicious onion tart. Not quite paleo with the dairy, but great for breakfast, lunch or dinner!

Blog oniontart1 Blog oniontart2

Ingredients

  • 3 onions
  • 2 Tbsp butter
  • 5 eggs
  • 1/2 cup heavy cream, half’n’half, milk or plain Greek yogurt
  • 1 cup Swiss or cheddar cheese, shredded

Directions

  • Melt butter in large frying pan
  • Thinly slice onions by running them through the food processor on the slicer blade (takes <60 seconds)
  • Saute onions in butter for 30 mins on medium heat, stirring once in a while, until onions are translucent, soft, and started to brown and caramelize
  • If they have not started to brown, turn up heat and caramelize them a bit, stirring so as not to let them burn
  • While onions are cooking, whisk eggs and milk or yogurt
  • Cover glass pie pan with cooking spray, add onions, cheese, and pour egg/milk mixture evenly over it
  • Bake for 30 minutes on 350* or until golden brown around edges, bubbly and hot
  • Serve warm, great paired with soup and salad!

dit-elle-Esther

Spicy Pork and Sweet Potato Stew

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This is a wonderful hearty fall stew. Serve with a crisp apple cider!Blog spicyporkstew

Ingredients

  • 1 Tbsp high-heat oil like coconut
  • 1-2 lbs boneless pork shoulder or pork loin, cut into 1″ cubes
  • 1 onion, diced
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 2 tsps. ground cumin
  • 1 tsp ground coriander
  • 2 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, minced, plus 2 Tbsps adobo sauce (look for gluten free as some adobo sauces have wheat as an ingredient)
  • salt/pepper, to taste
  • 1 (12 oz) bottle beer
  • 3 cups chicken stock
  • 2 large sweet potatoes or yams, peeled and cut into 3/4 inch cubes
  • Top with fresh cilantro and sour cream

Directions

  • Heat oil in large heavy pot over medium-high heat
  • Brown the pork and transfer to a bowl and set aside
  • Reduce the heat and add onion and cook, scraping the browned bits from the bottom of the pot, until the onions are soft, about 10 minutes
  • Add the garlic
  • Add reserved pork, cumin, coriander, chipotle peppers, adobo sauce, salt and pepper, stir to combine
  • Pour in beer and chicken stock and bring to a boil
  • Reduce heat to a simmer, cover and cook for an hour, stirring occasionally
  • After 1 hour, add sweet potatoes and simmer until pork is tender and potatoes are cooked through, ~30 minutes or so
  • Serve with cilantro and sour cream (or omit sour cream and add avocado as a paleo option)

dit-elle-Esther

French Onion Soup

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French Onion Soup.. mmm, a classic, hearty fall soup. Dress it up with some protein or serve as is. Of course some toasted baguette and melted cheese would be amazing!

Blog frenchonionsoup

blog frenchonionsoup_venison

Add some protein to make this an even heartier meal (shown here with grilled and sliced venison).

Ingredients

  • 8-10 onions
  • Butter or other fat
  • One quart of beef stock
  • Splash of sherry (optional)
  • Sprigs of fresh thyme
  • Garnish with gruyere or cheddar cheese (if not paleo)

Directions

  1. Melt butter in large soup pot
  2. Thinly slice the onions (using the slicer blade on a food processor works well!) and add to pot
  3. Let onions sauté over low-medium heat until they start to sweat
  4. Cover the pan with a lid and saute for about an hour, stirring every 10-15 minutes
  5. The onions will turn golden brown and while the bottom of the pan may be a dark caramel, make sure it doesn’t burn
  6. Add some sherry or stock if you are skipping the sherry and use this to deglaze the pan
  7. Add rest of stock and bring to a boil
  8. Let cool a bit and ladle soup into bowls, topping with cheese and some fresh thyme

dit-elle-Esther

Classic pumpkin pie

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So it wouldn’t be fall without pumpkin pie and I couldn’t wait till Thanksgiving to try out a gluten free (GF) version of this traditional pie! I made some minor tweaks to the classic Libby’s Pumpkin Pie recipe (the one on the back of the cans) and it turned out great! First, I substituted a gluten free (GF) crust and second, I used coconut palm sugar (1:1 ratio to regular white sugar) since that’s what I had in the house. The pie was a little darker in color, but it was EXCELLENT!

Blog pumpkinpie1 Blog pumpkinpie2

Ingredients

  • 3/4 cup sugar (I used coconut palm sugar – which has a lower glycemic index than regular sugar cane sugar)
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp ground ginger
  • 1/4 tsp ground cloves
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 can (15 oz) 100% pure pumpkin
  • 1 can (12 oz) evaporated milk
  • 1 unbaked 9″ deep-dish pie shell (I used a gluten free pie crust from Wholly Wholesome)

Directions

  • Mix sugar, salt, spices in a small bowl
  • Beat eggs in a large bowl and stir in pumpkin and sugar/spice mixture
  • Gradually stir in evaporated milk
  • Pour into pie shell
  • Bake in preheated 425* oven for 15 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350* and bake 40-50 minutes or until knife inserted near center comes out clean
  • Cool n wire rack for 2 hours.
  • Serve immediately or refrigerate
  • Top with whipped cream! 🙂

Super mom tip: Don’t keep that many spices stocked? Save a step and use 1 3/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice instead of the cinnamon/ginger/cloves.

dit-elle-Esther

Legends of the Fall..

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I love fall! So much color! We live in a beautiful place that is green pretty much year round. The rain and damp have arrived, but the trees are still brilliant.

A favorite fall table decoration is a bowl of water with leaves and tea lights. I know, so simple right!

The bowl could be a piece of thrifted crystal or porcelain (something fire proof!). I get the tea lights in bulk at IKEA, and then add your favorite fall leaves or flowers! Gorgeous when lit, adding coziness to fall evenings. And I’m all about coziness. 🙂

Blog autumnleaves x3Blog autumnleaves4 Blog autumnleaves3   Blog autumnleaves5Blog autumnleaves x2

dit-elle-Esther

Roasted Root Vegetables with Pesto

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The sweet flavor of carrots and parsnips balance out the bite of Brussels sprouts and turnips. Hot and roasted and tossed with pesto – yum!Blog pestoveggies-1

Ingredients

  • 2 cups carrots (cut in 1″ slices)
  • 2 cups parsnips (cut in 1″ slices)
  • 2 cups turnip slices, 1″ cubes
  • 2 cups trimmed and halved Brussels sprouts
  • 1 shallot, peeled and quartered
  • 1 onion, cut in 8 wedges
  • 1 Tbsp olive oil
  • Salt/pepper to taste
  • Pesto

Directions

  1. Oven to 425*
  2. Toss vegetables with olive oil
  3. Sprinkle w/salt and pepper, toss
  4. Bake @ 425* for 1 hour or until browned
  5. Toss vegetables with basil

Super mom tip: Make pesto in a big batch and freeze in 1/3-1/2 cup portions. Pull out and defrost in the fridge or microwave a day in advance for this type of recipe.

dit-elle-Esther