autumn grocery staples
meal ideas/combinations for cooler weather
Welcome to mama eats, a twice-weekly newsletter (Tues. & Sat.) inspired by a simple + seasonal home life. This week’s post about autumn grocery staples is free to read, barring the recipe for the maple apple cider vinaigrette at the very end. I try to provide as much free content as possible, however, this newsletter is a labor of love and I am a busy mother of three. If you have the means and find value in what I share, please consider becoming a paid subscriber, which also gives you the benefit of access to the growing archive (posts over a month old).
Autumn is here, and with it cooler and shorter days and the invitation to turn inwards, create warmth, and prepare to slow down for winter. What a treat this season is- the warm oranges, yellows, and reds of the leaves and the produce, the first rain of the year and the first fire of the season in the fireplace warming us with its crackling flames and cozy glow. Candles to light the darker mornings and evenings, more puzzles and board games and snuggling up together on the couch to read or watch a film.
In autumn I turn to warming meals with longer cooking methods: roasting, simmering, braising. It’s cooler out and a warm meal feels so cozy, the oven or a boiling pot warming up the kitchen and drawing everyone to this room. I always have a soup going, or leftovers in the fridge for quick, nourishing lunches. I rely on fiber/nutrient rich meals based on seasonal vegetables combined with whole grains, pulses, and/or fruits and nuts. Here is a small list of my usual main dish suspects:
pureed vegetable soups: these are so easy and delicious, and make a perfect meal when paired with some crusty bread, and a nice salad. Some of our favorites are butternut apple, carrot ginger, cauliflower potato, roasted tomato and white bean.
chunky soups: some favorites are barley vegetable, mushroom dumpling, minestrone, dumpling soup (frozen dumplings in a ginger broth with bok choy or tatsoi, carrots, celery, sesame oil, sometimes with noodles), lentil chard, miso ramen, french onion, pasta e ceci, chickpea noodle, miso soup with greens and winter squash added.
chili of all sorts!
cottage pie, with either sweet potato or regular potato mash
sweet potato tacos and soyrizo tacos
curries: I love all kinds of curries, and daal, they are so warming and filling.
grain salads with vinaigrette, roasted veg, and chickpeas.
pastas: I favor whole grain and/or gluten free pastas, with lots of vegetables and olive oil for silkiness. Some of our cool weather favorites are arrabiata, puttanesca, pasta e broccoli (and the same with cauliflower and romanesco), caramelized shallot pasta, linguine with arugula pesto.
I usually combine a main with some sort of side, such as:
salads: both the lettuce kind and kale or cabbage salads. I love to add roasted nuts for crunch, and pomegranate seeds and/or apples/pears/persimmons.
roasted veg- I usually do a mix of two at once (some combos: sweet potato and broccoli, brussels and delicata squash, cauliflower and carrots, beets and carrots, regular potatoes with rosemary and garlic, honeynut, thyme and red onions). I toss in some oil, salt, and pepper and roast at 400f/200c till caramelized and tender.
sourdough bread, baguette, focaccia, or buns- especially winter squash buns
sauteed greens (my usual method is to warm sliced garlic or minced shallot in a few tbsp olive oil with salt, then add in a whole bunch of chopped dark leafy greens that have just been washed so still have water clinging to them, then toss them around the pan with tongs until they are wilted down and tender, adding a splash of water as needed. A bit of lemon to finish, off heat, is always nice)
A few things I like to pre-make and have in the fridge or pantry for the week:
cooked pureed winter squash: for easy baking both sweet and savory, and pancakes. I prefer red kuri, kabocha, or sugar pie pumpkin for this. Simply peel, halve, remove seeds, cube, steam till just fork tender, and puree. You can keep in the fridge around one week or freeze for months.
applesauce: for adding to baked goods, or adding a warm scoop onto porridge or yogurt or by itself. Just peel (or not- I usually don’t), cube, add to a pot with a splash of water or apple cider and cinnamon/spices if you wish, then cook, stirring occasionally, till broken down.
roasted nuts: these are wonderful to add to salads, porridge, a handful along with some fruit for a snack.
deseeded pomegranates: I find it so useful to deseed pomegranates when I have time, then keep the arils in a jar in the fridge for easily adding to salads, roasted veg, porridge bowls, or snacking.
peeled, cubed squash: for easy roasting, pastas, making into soups
cut up florets of cauliflower and/or broccoli, halved brussels: again, for easy roasting, sauteeing, soups.
For breakfasts this time of year, my mainstay is porridge in all forms, I never get tired of it. Oat and chia porridge is probably the one I make most often, but I also regularly do millet porridge, overnight steel cut oats, quinoa/oat, and cream of buckwheat. I like to top these with any autumn fruit available: pears, apples or applesauce, pomegranate seeds + a nut or nut butter: toasted hazelnuts, pecans, almonds, walnuts, or peanut/almond butter/tahini.
As an evening treat, I love a baked apple, roasted chestnuts, apples and almond butter, or stovepopped popcorn. Cozy and tasty, while also being simple, whole foods.
A few examples of a typical autumn meal in our house (click any photo to enlarge):
And one last little tip: anytime you’re using the oven for baking, fill any extra space with something else- I routinely roast nuts/seeds, whole sweet potatoes, whole stuffed apples, a few beets for marinating later when I’ve got the oven going for whatever recipe I’m making. Less energy use, and you get to stash something away to use later.
For paid subscribers, I’ve added my maple apple cider vinaigrette recipe below. Thank you!