We’re not exactly sure what’s more of a kick than creating a meal from food you’ve grown yourself. And while that’s a ton of fun in the spring and summer, we think everything gets kicked up a notch with harvest foods. Those luscious root veggies, healthy greens, and broccoli and cabbage and cauliflower give us all the feels. So let’s round up some fall garden recipes, shall we?
Our Favorite Fall Garden Recipes
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Soups and Stews: You can’t really go wrong with soups and stews that feature veggies like carrots, potatoes, pumpkin, and turnips. Create a classic beef stew or substitute some smoked sausage to amp up the flavor. Need inspiration? Check out these cozy recipes.
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Buddha Bowls: Buddha bowls are a vegetarian/vegan delight and are a complete and super healthy meal on its own. Start with the greens of your choice, add a grain like quinoa or brown rice, toss in a protein (lookin’ at you, tofu and beans), and finish with anything else that makes your heart sing—avocado, chickpeas, roasted veggies, or seeds, you name it. This recipe is definitely on our list.
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Harvest Salads: We often think of salads in a spring or summer kind of way, but fall salads offer a little more richness and depth, complementing any meal. Use your spinach and kale as the base, add some juicy dried cranberries and crunchy pecans, toss in some roasted butternut squash and maybe some tart apples and—oh!—don’t forget a sprinkling of feta cheese if you’re into it. We love this one here.
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Pumpkin Anything: We’re not aware of an actual dish named Pumpkin Anything, but our point is that you can add pumpkin into a wide and tasty array of recipes to give them that fall flair. How about pumpkin pasta, roasted pumpkin soup, pumpkin bread, or a pumpkin tart? If that last one threw you, trust us, you need to take a look at this Savory Pumpkin, Ricotta, and Caramelized Onion Tart. You can thank us later. We’ll be the ones over here stuffing our faces.
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Harvest Pizzas: Start with your pizza crust (homemade or store bought, this is a no-judging zone), then load on your roasted veggies, tomatoes left over and canned from the summer garden, the sauce of your choice, and some gooey cheese. And you can make it vegan with a couple of substitutions—like with this Vegan Pizza recipe here!
- Winter Squash Side Dishes: Butternut squash, acorn squash, and spaghetti squash are some of our fave winter squashes to add to savory side dishes. (Technically, pumpkin is also a winter squash, but we felt it deserved its own bullet point.) Try butternut squash chili, roasted squash, stuffed acorn squash, spaghetti squash with your favorite tomato sauce—you get the idea.
Foods to Complement Your Harvest Recipes
So you’ve grown your root veggies, squashes, pumpkins, and greens. What other foods might you have on hand to go with these fall flavors? We’re glad you asked! Stay stocked up on these pantry/fridge items, and you can easily create a mix-and-match harvest garden meal—and remember to think roast and grill ingredients to bring out their rich and smoky flavors, then layer them together for a cozy menu.
Dried fruits Seeds, roasted or raw
Maple syrup Goat, feta, or bleu cheese
Pasta Meats like chicken, sausage, lamb, beef
Crusty bread Apple cider
Balsamic vinegar Pomegranates
Apples Figs
Nuts Grains
Beans Herbs like rosemary and thyme