fall recipes

Sweet Potato Chicken Chili

/ Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / Leave a comment

Whether I like it or not, the weather is getting cooler and we’re well on our way to fall and … winter. I don’t mind the weather getting cooler – especially since it means it’s finally officially soup and chili weather!

We got a lot of sweet potatoes in our last summer Fresh Fork CSA, and though I’m a fan of roasting them, making fries, and more – I really wanted to make a chili with them. So I did. Typically I make my chicken or turkey chili in the crock pot to save time, and energy, but for being a chili recipe, this is pretty easy and painless to prepare AND make. You could probably use ground beef – but I always prefer turkey or chicken personally so I haven’t tried it.

sweet potato chicken chili photo - i crashed the web

Sweet Potato Chicken Chili

Here’s what you need:

  • 1 Tbs olive oil
  • 16 oz lean ground turkey or chicken
  • 1 medium yellow or Spanish onion, chopped
  • 1 medium sweet pepper, chopped
  • 1 Tbs garlic powder
  • 1-2 tsp cumin
  • 1 tsp chili powder
  • 10 oz can tomatoes with green chilies
  • 16 oz can diced tomatoes
  • 8 oz can tomato sauce
  • 2 cans our favorite beans – I used kidney and Great Northern beans
  • 2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped into cubes about 1/2-1 inch thick

Here’s what you do:

  1. In a Dutch oven, brown the ground chicken over 1 Tbs olive oil. Cook, on medium-high, and break apart chicken as it cooks. Season with some of the garlic powder and cumin as it cooks.
  2. After chicken is cooked through, add onion and pepper and some more of the cumin and garlic powder. Continue to cook for another 2-3 minutes until onion starts to become translucent.
  3. Add the can of tomatoes with chilies, diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, beans and sweet potato.
  4. Add rest of spices – rest of cumin, garlic powder and then chili powder. Stir to combine mixture.
  5. Cover Dutch oven most of the way and simmer over medium to medium-low heat for about 25-40 minutes or until the sweet potatoes are soft and full cooked. Stir often.
  6. Serve in a bowl. Mine made about 9 cups and I had about 1 1/2 cup for my dinner serving.
  7. Enjoy alone, over rice or with corn bread. I chose the corn bread — because why not?

And that, my friends, is the perfect fall meal!

sweet potato chicken chili image - i crashed the web

sweet potato chicken chili

sweet potato chicken chili 2- i crashed the web

Apple Bars with Maple Brown Butter Glaze

/ Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / Leave a comment

It’s apple season! Which means there are so many fun things that I can be baking with apples. And we have more than enough apples to spare. A few weeks ago,, B and I went apple picking. And then we got a few apples in our CSA. And then we got a few apples at a race we did. Needless to say, I had a few extra apples to spare. I didn’t feel like making a pie. Or a cake. Bars? Perfect! I definitely recommend you try these – with or without the glaze. B loved them without the glaze with his morning coffee. And then I brought them with the glaze to B’s family’s clambake as a sweet treat. They’re easy, and smell amazing in the oven.

apple bars with maple brown butter glaze -- i crashed the web

Apple Bars with Maple Brown Butter Glaze

Here’s what you need:

  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoon baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ½ cup butter, melted
  • ¾ cup packed brown sugar
  • ½ cup white sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 Tbs vanilla extract
  • 1 ½ cup apple, chopped (I used 2 large apples)
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon

Here’s what you need for the glaze:

  • ¼ c (½ stick) butter, browned
  • 1 – 1 ½ c powdered sugar, sifted
  • 2 Tbs pure maple syrup
  • 1-2 Tbs milk, if needed (I used almond milk)

Here’s what you do:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9×13 inch pan.
  2. In a small bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt. Set aside.
  3. In a large bowl, mix together melted butter, brown sugar and white sugar. Stir in the egg and vanilla. Blend in the flour mixture until just combined, then stir in the apples. Spread the mixture evenly into the prepared pan. Sprinkle cinnamon over the top of the bars.
  4. Bake for 30 minutes in preheated oven. Remove from oven and cool on wire rack.

Here what you do to make the brown butter maple glaze:

  1. Heat butter on a saucepan on low to medium-low. Once butter is melted, heat a little longer until butter starts to smell and turn a light brown / caramel color. Stir and keep an eye on butter so as not to burn!
  2. When brown, stir in sifted powdered sugar with a whisk. Stir carefully, removing any clumps.
  3. Add in maple syrup and continue to stir. Depending on consistency, add milk. I only needed 1 Tbs of milk and used what I had on hand – unsweetened almond milk.
  4. Drizzle glaze on top of cooled bars.
  5. Enjoy!

apple bars with brown butter maple glaze - i crashed the web

Pumpkin Granola! [yes, this happened]

/ Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / Leave a comment

As you may know, I looooove granola. I grew up eating my mom’s homemade granola and have been looking for an excuse to make a new version.

Well, I was talking with my brother recently and he mentioned that if I wanted to send him a package (which I do on occasion – usually with baked goods), to send him granola. Challenge accepted! And of course, since pumpkin season is here (as if you haven’t realized that from my plethora of pumpkin recipes), I decided to try to make some pumpkin granola to send him.

Warning – this stuff is really good if you like granola. And pumpkin. So good that my brother only got a small baggie (sorry, Greg, I promise you more if you visit!). But it’s also SO easy that you can make it and share it with friends! And really, this recipe is not much different from the original granola recipe – just has some more  spices and of course, pumpkin!

pumpkin granola - i crashed the web

Pumpkin Granola

Here’s what you need:

  • 3 cups old fashioned rolled oats, or organic oats (I used the amazing oats we got in our CSA)
  • 1/2 cup flaxseed
  • 1 cup your favorite dried fruit (you can use any combination of dried fruit – as usual, I used dried blueberries, dried cranberries and dried cherries)
  • 1 cup your favorite nut, loosely chopped (I used almonds and cashews – but I imagine pumpkin seeds would work really well this time!)
  • 1/4 cup brown sugar
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
  • 3/4 – 1 cup maple syrup (I used about 1 c. of what we had on hand which was pure maple syrup from Canada!)
  • 1/2 cup canned pumpkin

Here’s what you do:

  1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
  2. Combine oats, flaxseed, nuts, dried fruit in a large boil.
  3. In a smaller bowl, combine brown sugar, vanilla, pumpkin pie spice, maple syrup and pumpkin. Combine until well mixed.
  4. Add brown sugar-pumpkin mixture to oat mixture. Mix well until oats, nuts, etc. are well and evenly coated.
  5. Pour out onto a baking sheet, lined with parchment paper.
  6. Bake for about 40 minutes, checking and stirring at about 15-20 minutes and again at 30ish minutes. Careful not to let it burn!
  7. Let cool and enjoy!
Nuts and dried fruit. Yum!

Nuts and dried fruit. Yum!

pumpkin granola - i crashed the web

Enjoy!

Pumpkin Pie Dip

/ Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / Leave a comment

Happy Halloween! ‘Tis the season for pumpkin! As you may have noticed, I’ve been busy whipping up some pumpkin recipes these past few weeks. Soft pumpkin cookies with cream cheese frosting, pumpkin blondies – yum!

Now, for the easiest pumpkin pie recipe of all – and still delicious – pumpkin pie dip. My friend Ali shared a version of this recipe with me a few years ago and it’s become a staple in my stomach house every fall. Serve it with apples, pears, ginger snaps, nila wafers, or cinnamon sugar pita chips. Or eat it with a spoon – it’s THAT good!

easy pumpkin pie dip

Pumpkin Pie Dip

Here’s what you need:

  • 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened (I used half full fat and half 1/3 less fat cream cheese)
  • 2 cups powdered sugar
  • 1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin
  • 2 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice

Here’s what you do:

  • Make sure cream cheese is fully softened – I left mine out of the fridge for 30+ minutes before starting the recipe. Once softened blend cream cheese and powdered sugar until smooth.
  • Gradually add in the canned pumpkin. Stir in pumpkin pie spice.
  • Chill until serving. I served mine with apples and cinnamon & sugar pita chips!

easy pumpkin pie dip