Fall has definitely made a grand entrance in my area of the Pacific Northwest.  It's the perfect weather for a nice bowl of hot soup, and some steaming grilled bacon and cheese sandwiches.  I had already made a couple loaves of Honey Oat Bread to make the sandwiches with, and just needed a good, hearty soup. 

While I was over at a friend's house a few weeks back, she had made a batch of this soup to share with all of us.  Now, I am not a fan of carrots ("gasp!!" , I know..), so was not expecting too much other than to be polite and have a small couple of bites.  I wound up eating three servings.  The potato really does a fantastic job of smoothing out the carrot flavor.  It's also thick and surprisingly filling (despite my goings back for more).   It is a perfect fall-time soup to put into your rotations.

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons butter
1 small onion, chopped
1 medium potato, diced
1 pound carrots, chopped
3 cups veggie stock
pinch of sugar
2/3 cup half & half
salt and pepper to taste.


Directions:

1. In a large pot melt butter.  Add onion, potato, and carrots. Cover and let simmer for ten minutes.
2. Add stock and sugar to pot.  Bring to a boil, and let simmer for 30 minutes, or until veggies are soft.
3. Place mixture into a food processor and mix on "puree" setting.  Meanwhile, clean the pot.
4. Return the mixture to the pot.  Stir in half & half, salt, and pepper. 
5. Serve warm.

In a search for something to do with my browning bananas yesterday, I came across this recipe at Sally's Baking Addiction.  The thing I love about her site is she takes some of the most unhealthy comfort foods, and makes them fit into a healthier lifestyle, so I can feel better about eating stuff like this when I get the craving.  These sounded perfect.  They use no butter or oil, so they are "healthier" than other variations.  The only alteration I made was substituting peanut butter chips in place of the chocolate chips, and oh my- am I glad I did!   They brought these to a whole other level of yum.  My kids have been gushing on them while they devour them. 

Ingredients:

3 large bananas
2/3 cup sugar
1 egg
1/3 cup applesauce
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup peanut butter chips (or chocolate chips)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350*F.  Line a muffin tin with cupcake papers.
In a large bowl, mash bananas completely- no large lumps.  Stir in sugar, egg, and applesauce.
In a medium bowl, sift together flour, cocoa,  salt, baking soda, and baking powder.  Make sure to sift the cocoa so you do not get clumps.
Stir flour mix into wet ingredients until just combined.  Stir in chips.  Batter will be chunky.
Spoon into prepared muffin tins.  These do not really "puff" up, so go ahead and fill them all the way up.  If desired, sprinkle more chips on top.
Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until done in the center.  Cool completely.

   I got into a baking mood yesterday, but once again find myself tired of the same old things I always make in there.  Instead, I went browsing through my Pinterest boards looking for something new and tantalizing.   I found them here:  Two Peas & Their Pod.   I get a lot of recipes from this website.  I have never had one fail me.  In fact, they've probably been linked to in more than a few of my posts.  =) 

There they call them "Zucchini Applesauce Oatmeal Cookies".   I'm simply calling them "Autumn Cookies", because that is exactly what it tasted like I was biting into-  a delicious morsel of Fall.  I didn't have any chocolate chips on hand, so just omitted them.  Let me tell you, they are not necessary.  They were absolutely perfect, and I will be making these quite often, methinks!  Perfect for this time of year!

Ingredients:

1 cup flour (next time I will try wheat flour, or half all-purpose, half wheat)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon cloves
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 cup applesauce
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup shredded zucchini
2 cups oats
Chocolate chips


Directions:

Preheat oven to 350*F.  Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.
In a small bowl, combine flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg. 
In  a larger bowl combine applesauce and sugar.  Add egg and vanilla.  Stir in zucchini.
Slowly add the flour mixture to the zucchini mixture.  Stir in oats and chocolate chips if using.
Bake for 10 - 12 minutes.  Let cool completely.