Fall is – for many people – the best season. Cold weather made for squishy scarves, crisp apples, and leaf colors that will make you forget your stress. There are also those of us who live for Starbucks’s annual release of the Pumpkin Spice Latte – now endowed with its very own catchy acronym, PSL. Coffee-lovers seem completely divided over the signature drink. You either love it, or you hate it.
I’ll admit it. I’m one of those in the hate camp.
For the rest of you who prefer your fall season without pumpkin-spiced everything, there are plenty of yummy things to make and still feel in the spirit. Here are seven of my favorites for you test out, one for every day of the week. I guarantee you’ll love them – and your PSL-loving friends will, too.
Cinnamon Rolls
Of all the things I miss about having a kitchen, making a delicious breakfast is top among them. I was never a fan of cereal to begin with, and eating it every day is getting boring. Enter Instagram and the discovery of a lifetime. Pillsbury Cinnamon Rolls (yes, the tube you buy at the grocery store) can be made in your microwave! In a mug, no less! Find the recipe here.
Apple Cider Slushies
With climate change and 75-degree Octobers being a thing now, we should probably get used to drinking our apple cider cold. Pick up your favorite cider, freeze it in a brownie pan, and scrape like homemade sorbet. Bonus: it can be easily topped off with your favorite adult beverage for some extra kick. Find the recipe here.
Maple Candies
Sometimes I think maple syrup is so underrated. It makes pancakes and waffles extra delicious. It’s the second best vanilla ice cream topping. As a kid, I was obsessed with Little House on the Prairie and spent many winter days making maple syrup candy in the snow (my father is a very patient man). Turns out you don’t need the snow, just the freezer. And an hour of free time. Find the recipe here.
Acorn Cookies
Cute, easy, and drop-dead delicious, these little guys are the snack for fall get-togethers. If you’re not a fan of peanut butter and chocolate, you can substitute the Nutter Butters for mini Nilla Wafers. Find the recipe here.
Brown Sugar OR Spaghetti Squash
Moving away from the sweet-stuff, squash is the pumpkin’s lovely, but generally ignored cousin. It can be sweet, salty, turned into a pseudo-pasta dish. If you’re using a conventional oven, baking these suckers down to digestible food takes a long time – time many of us don’t have. Enter, again, the noble microwave. One squash half and a bit of water in a microwave-safe bowl generally takes 10 minutes to cook totally through. Top it with brown sugar, tomato sauce for something different, or check out the Tasty archives (because, honestly, they have just about everything in there). Find recipes here and here.
Mummy Brie
Having a grown-up Halloween party and don’t want to go in for a grabby-hand bowl of Doritos? Try “mummy brie” – baked brie cheese, wrapped up in pastry dough. Serve with crackers, carrots, whatever you can put melty, delicious cheese on. Find the recipe here.
Roasted Fall Veggie Bowl
There’s nothing like a good veggie bowl. It makes you feel better about eating at Market for a few days in a row. This one uses all the vegetables you’ll find at a fall farmer’s market, even the ones some people don’t like, to make a delicious light dinner or packed lunch. Even if you aren’t the best chef, you can pull this off. Find the recipe here.