One of the things I love most about natural foods cooking is changing foods selection and cooking styles with the seasons.  Not so long ago people did this automatically because there were no supermarkets that had strawberries in January or corn on the cob in Spring.  People ate what was available locally.  Makes sense, right? 

And changing our cooking styles with the seasons is common sense as well.  Think about it - in the middle of winter do you want a spinach salad with avocado and tomato for dinner or a hearty soup or warming stew?   We need more warming foods in winter, more cooling foods in summer.  Changing our cooking styles is one of the ways we can bring more heat into our body.

So we could say this is aligning with nature - changing the foods we eat and the cooking styles we use with the changing seasons.  Try it and you will feel our body adapt more easily to the different seasons.  

Here are a few of my favorite Fall recipes:

Creamy Squash Chickpea Soup   

2 c. cooked chickpeas                                                                

4 c. butternut buttercup or kabocha squash (peeled and cut in large dice)

1 large onion, diced

sea salt

water

In a soup pot layer:  onion, squash and chickpeas.  Add enough water to cover chickpeas by about 1 inch.  Bring to a boil with lid on.  Cook on medium flame for about 20 minutes (until squash tender). 

Add mixture to blender and puree.  I try to leave about 1/3 of the chickpeas unblended to add some consistency to the pureed soup.  Note: Do not overfill blender if the soup is hot and be sure to hold down the lid.  With hot ingredients the steam gets trapped and can force the lid off (and the hot soup onto you!) once the blender is turned on. 

Return contents to soup pot.  Season lightly with sea salt (about 1/2 tsp.) and cook an addtional 10 minutes.  Garnish with dill, parsley, croutons or toasted pumpkin seeds.  Enjoy!

Sweet Rice with Azuki Beans and Chestnuts

(this dish is best if done in a pressure cooker)

2 c. sweet rice

1/3 c. azuki beans (soaked 6 hours)

1/3 c. chestnuts (soaked 6 hours)

1 inch piece kombu sea vegetable

3 1/4 c. water

Add rice and water then beans, chestnuts and kombu to pressure cooker.  Bring up to pressure.  Place on flame tamer to cook more evenly and prevent burning.  Cook for 50 minutes.  Remove from flame and let pressure come down naturally.   Spoon into a serving dish and enjoy.

Baked Stuffed Apples

Apples suitable for baking such as cortland, macoun    

2 c. peanut butter or sesame tahini

2 -3 T. brown rice syrup

1/2 c. raisins, soaked about 20 minutes then chopped

1 c. chopped nuts (pecans and/or walnuts)

Core out the center of the apples from the top.  Be sure to leave the bottom intact because you don't want the stuffing mixture to seep out. 

Mix above ingredients together.  Spoon into apples.  Place in a baking pan with a little water on bottom.  Bake covered at 350 degrees for 15 - 20 minutes.   Apples can also be placed in a deep pot with a little water and steamed on the stove top. 

Enjoy!