Fall is my FAVORITE time of year! I love not only the changing scenery and weather, but the recipes I start making. This year I’m trying to do healthy fall recipes, so these are healthier versions of my favorites.

1) Cottage Pie:

We call this Shepherd’s Pie even though it is technically NOT Shepherd’s Pie (it is not made with lamb or mutton). I make it with ground beef. I would typically use low salt beef broth and cornstarch for a gravy, but this time I used brown gravy packets that I added water to (this bumps up the sodium). I add a ton of corn, peas and carrots to the ground beef/gravy mixture, probably about a cup of each for 2 pounds of ground beef. Potatoes are Yukon gold with the skins on (that’s where the nutrients are!) and I try to scale back on the butter. Truly a one-pot dinner since I add so many extra veggies.

Speaking of corn, our local farm “stand” (which is really a large farm and garden shop) Gade Farm has THE BEST corn. They were having a sale/fundraiser with their corn on Labor Day weekend so I bought two dozen ears:

I shucked it and cut the corn off the ears and put it in freezer bags:

Now we can eat it throughout the winter! In case you were wondering… no, I didn’t blanch the corn first. Just cut it off the cobb and froze it raw. I did the research – it’s ok to do that.

2) Pumpkin Muffins:

If you’ve been around these parts (this blog) you know how much I love pumpkin. Pumpkin bread/muffins are the quintessential fall treat for me. I was dying to make them this past weekend, but was lamenting the fact that I only had the usual 12-muffin tin that makes small-ish muffins with small-ish tops. So, online I went and I found these jumbo 6-cup muffin tins that came with 150 paper liners. The recipe I use is from my Good Housekeeping book that I received as a gift in 1993! Talk about a non-updated recipe: it calls for 1/4 cup “salad oil.”

I couldn’t find the recipe anywhere online so I’m posting a picture of the page in the cookbook:

It is from The New Good Housekeeping Cookbook: America’s Favorite Recipes, copyright 1986.

I made them healthier this time around by replacing half the flour with whole wheat flour and using olive oil instead of salad oil. I had wanted to do a streusel topping but ran out of time, so I sprinkled them with sparkling sugar. Sparkling sugar is the best adornment for any baked good! The muffins turned out great and got a great review from the friend I shared them with. [If you click on the links for the muffin tin and sugar, it will take you to Amazon – as disclosed in the side bar, I am an affiliate and will get a small commission if you purchase anything after clicking those links.]

3) Fire Cider

I’ve been making this concoction for the past couple of years and take 2 tablespoons each morning. The supposed benefits, that I choose to believe (I am not a professional) are that it helps with immunity, digestion, circulation, and sinus clearing, as well as it has antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory properties. I am pro-anything-anti-inflammatory as that is a major factor contributing to my fibromyalgia. Plus, I haven’t had a cold in years, so there’s that.

This is a classic fire cider recipe which is to layer horseradish, ginger, garlic, onion, citrus, hot peppers, and turmeric in a glass container, cover with raw apple cider vinegar (I use Bragg’s), then steep for 3–4 weeks. Strain out all the solids and finish with raw honey to taste. The honey helps a little with the acidity as it goes down, but it is still VERY potent, so be warned.

I used two half-gallon mason jars for my cider. I have had these for some time but they are similar to these mason jars, which have a cute sunflower design on them!

And lastly, my ONE favorite fall drink…. it’s not cider!:

Pumpkin Ale

This one is from Timberyard Brewing Company which is where we stayed with our Harvest Host pass when we went to Brimfield last week. More on that in another post. This was the first time I have had the pumpkin ale with cinnamon/sugar rim — omg, just delicious.

Have you tried fire cider? Do you like pumpkin ale? What are your favorite fall recipes? Let me know in the comments!