Healthy Fall Recipes To Try This Year

Are you looking for healthy fall recipes to try? Read on to discover some delicious fall recipes that you’ll not only love, but that’ll keep you on track with those health and fitness goals this season.

Fall Vegetable Essentials: Butternut Squash And Acorn Squash

‘Tis the season of squash. Both butternut and acorn varieties can make wonderfully healthy additions to liven up your weeknight dinner recipes for fall. Pair with a protein like ever autumnal pork chops.

The use of maple syrup (instead of sugar) in these recipes also makes the dishes a bit healthier. While maple syrup does contain sugar, it also contains the following vitamins and minerals:

• Calcium
• Iron
• Magnesium
• Potassium
• Zinc
• Copper
• Manganese

So the calories it does have aren’t empty calories. Maple syrup also sits lower on the glycemic index scale than sugar (sucrose).^1,2

Maple Cinnamon Roasted Butternut Squash

Ingredients:

• 3 lbs butternut squash chopped into 1-inch cubes
• 1 ½ tablespoon coconut oil
• 1 ½ tablespoon pure maple syrup
• ¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons fresh rosemary, finely chopped
• ½ teaspoon ground black pepper

What to do:

1. Preheat oven to 400° F.
2. Prep two baking sheets with foil and a non-stick spray.
3. In a bowl, toss butternut squash with the oil, syrup, cinnamon, and salt.
4. Spread onto baking sheets and then roast for about 15 minutes.
5. Turn 180° and roast for a further 10 -15 minutes.
6. Remove from the oven and sprinkle with chopped rosemary and black pepper.

Optional: Add a dollop of plain, unflavored Greek yogurt to serve

Walnut Cranberry Stuffed Acorn Squash

Ingredients:

• 2 medium acorn squash, cut in half with seeds removed
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• Salt and fresh ground black pepper
• 3 tablespoons maple syrup
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1/4 cup walnuts, roughly chopped
• 1/4 cup dried or fresh cranberries

What to do:

1. Heat oven to 400° F.
2. Place squash wedges into a large baking dish and brush all sides with olive oil.
3. Spoon maple syrup evenly over the top, then season with salt and pepper.
4. Bake for about an hour – until soft and caramelized.
5. Remove squash from the oven.
6. In a saucepan, combine butter, walnuts, and cranberries over medium heat until butter is completely melted.
7. Spoon mixture over the roasted squash and serve

Healthy Snacking This Fall Season: Roasted Pumpkin Seeds With Pumpkin Spice

This is a perfect fall recipe because it turns otherwise wasted pumpkin seeds (from cooking or Halloween carving) into a healthy, seasonal snack. And, it doesn’t get more seasonal than pumpkin spice.

Once you make up a big ol’ batch of pumpkin spice you can also use it in almost all of your fall cooking and baking.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of pumpkin seeds (rinsed and dried)
• 1 tablespoon olive or coconut oil
• 1 tablespoon swerve or coconut sugar
• 2 teaspoon pumpkin spice mix*

What to do:

1. Preheat oven to 400° F.
2. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
3. Boil a pot of water with a little salt added.
4. Add seeds and boil for around 10 minutes.
5. Drain and pat seeds dry between paper towels.
6. In a bowl, toss dry pumpkin seeds, oil, sweetener, and pumpkin spice.
7. Spread the seeds evenly on your baking pan and roast for approx. 20 minutes (until crispy), turning the seeds halfway through cooking time.
8. Allow cooling before serving.

Easy Vegan/Vegetarian Meals For Fall: Protein-Rich Vegetables Casserole

Looking for a great vegan and vegetarian dinner recipe for fall? Look no further than delicious, protein-rich legumes, like beans and chickpeas, to boost your grams of protein. And these legumes are anything but boring when you have the right recipe.

Fall Legume Casserole

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 green pepper, chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 cups pre-cooked quinoa
• 1 can chickpeas (garbanzo beans)
• 1 can black beans, drained
• 1 can whole kernel corn, drained
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 cup vegetable stock
• 1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 tablespoon cumin
• 1 green onion diced (to serve)

Optional: 1 cup of vegan cheese

What to do:

1. Preheat oven to 375° F
2. Heat a pan over medium heat and add olive oil.
3. Saute onion, pepper, and garlic until softened. Remove from heat.
4. In a large bowl, combine cooked peppers/onion/garlic mix, with quinoa (cooked), beans, corn, tomato paste, vegetable stock, salt, pepper, thyme, cumin (vegan cheese if using.)
5. Spread evenly into a baking dish and bake or 25 minutes.
6. Remove from oven and sprinkle with green onions.

Finally, Don’t Forget Dessert

Let’s face it, pumpkin pie is an absolute fall staple. But if you’re trying to eat healthily, it can seem like a dish that’s quite out of reach. Thankfully, there are ways to make pumpkin pie much healthier.

Like this pumpkin pie that’s baked without a crust. It’s still got that perfect pumpkin pie taste and it’s super easy to make. And, if you’re gluten-free this pie can also be for you.

We won’t tell if you also want to eat this for breakfast…

Crustless Pumpkin Pie

Traditional pie crust is made up of butter (high in saturated fat), white all-purpose flour (high in refined carbs), sugar (high in sugar), and shortening (high in unhealthy trans fats). Take away the crust and you’re cutting out all of these unhealthy ingredients.

Though crustless pumpkin pie isn’t completely guilt-free, it can significantly reduce your calorie and sugar intake.

Ingredients:

• 1 x 15-oz can pumpkin puree
• 3 large eggs, beaten
• 1 cup of low-fat evaporated milk or coconut milk
• 1/2 cup sugar substitute such as Swerve
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 2 tsp pumpkin spice
• ¼ tsp salt

What to do:

1. Preheat oven to 300° F and spray your pie tin with nonstick cooking spray (coconut oil).
2. In a bowl (or stand mixer) whisk together pumpkin puree. Add eggs, evaporated milk, Swerve, vanilla, and spices, until smooth.
3. Pour pumpkin pie mixture into pie dish.
4. Bake pie until filling is jiggly (60 – 70 min). Rotate pie dish halfway through cooking time.
5. Remove pie from oven and place uncovered in a cool, dry place. When the pie has cooled to room temperature, you can cover and refrigerate overnight.
6. Slice into 8 – 10 servings and serve

Healthy Fall Recipes

Dreaming of creamy butternut squash soup, rich chicken broth, hearty beef stew, mac and cheese, pork chops and braised apples? Perhaps pumpkin spice lattes, pumpkin spice muffins, or pumpkin pie? These warming, rich foods are synonymous with fall but are usually high in calories, sugar, and unhealthy fats.

When you find the right recipes and the right substitutions, you can create these dishes and more almost guilt-free!

Eat healthy this fall by adding some new recipes to your repertoire. Hopefully, these recipes will give you a great head start.

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Sources
1.https://www.glycemicindex.com/foodSearch.php?num=1855&ak=detail
2.https://www.gisymbol.com/gi-sugar/