This is Recipe Roundup episode 80. Today I am going to focus on some of my current favorite foods for the fall season!

As I mentioned last week, when the equinox came, I decided to make a list of fall themed foods I wanted to make. In addition to last week’s chili, the list also included pumpkin bread and baked apples. These days I try to stay away from wheat flour, so I made my pumpkin bread from almond flour – there are tons of different recipes for this online. But in my opinion, even a simple bread is a lot of work for a little bit of sweetness when you could just bake an apple! After rinsing your apples, cut out most of the core, leaving the bottom of the apple intact. Make a mixture of brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and clove and sprinkle this inside the apple hole. Cut a small stick of butter that will fill the hole, and then sprinkle with more of the sugar mixture. Place the apples in a glass dish with a few inches of fresh water in the bottom. Bake the apples for about 30 minutes at 375 degrees. When they are done they are great on their own or with vanilla ice cream. 

If you are someone who eats white potatoes on a regular basis, fall is a great time to swap them out for sweet potatoes! White potatoes belong to the nightshade family, along with tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants. While generally these plants are safe to consume, they can also be particularly inflammatory, especially to individuals with sensitive joints, digestive problems, or auto-immune issues. Sweet potatoes, on the other hand, belong to a completely different plant family! Even if you have no particular sensitivity to nightshades, sweet potatoes are slightly more nutritious than white potatoes, particularly when it comes to Vitamin A content. Something I appreciate about sweet potatoes is that they are versatile – with some cinnamon and butter, they become  a dessert and with some roasted jalapenos, green onion,  salt and sour cream, they become savory! 

The final harvest item I want to spotlight is another root vegetable: Parsnips! In the same family as carrots, parsnips are whitish yellow and can be prepared in a variety of ways! Their flavor reminds me of lemon and ginger and I find them to be a refreshing pairing with carrots. My current favorite soup recipe is a chicken soup with celery, lima beans, hatch chilis, carrots and parsnips! Parsnips are a good source of Vitamin C and Vitamin K, and they are different enough from carrots to add an extra element to any dish you put them in! 

Fall is a great time to warm yourself with healthy food and baking spices! I hope that you try out some of these ideas as the weather grows colder!

You can find all of my recipes online at Allegheny Mountain Radio.org. IF you’d like to share your own recipe with the show, you can send it to sage@amrmail.org. For recipe roundup this is Sage Tanguay.