Autumn is in full swing and knitters everywhere are deep into planning their Winter wardrobes. Cables, brioche, colourwork, the options are endless and we are loving it! Have you noticed though, Autumn not only brings a shift in our knitting projects but also what we are eating? With the change in weather, we are suddenly craving hearty soups, hot breakfasts and steaming mugs of spiced goodness! Or is that just us? For today's post, I asked the Making Stories team if they would like to share some of their favourite Autumn recipes, and they came back with some delicious suggestions!

Ruth

Oh, Fall recipes are my favourite! Every Fall I get obsessed with roasting veggies. I blend them up for soups, add them to risottos or curries, and top off my salads with them. One particular favourite combination recently has been roasted carrot, pumpkin and cauliflower soup topped with kale chips. Yum!

Another Fall favourite is definitely pumpkin bread. Several years ago, I got a bit frustrated that I could mostly only find recipes for it that required canned pumpkin (something that I can't really buy here and that honestly, I'd rather sub out for fresh anyways) so I came up with my own recipe. We love it topped with a thick layer of cream cheese :)

• 2 large eggs

• 1 cup sugar

• 1 cup baked Hokkaido pumpkin (approximately half of a small-medium sized Hokkaido pumpkin. You're going to want to pre bake this) note: if you can't find Hokkaido pumpkin, another sort of baking pumpkin should do fine.

• 3/4 cup oil (olive or sunflower seed oil work well)

• 1-2 tbsp of cold water, as needed (to thin mixture)

• 1 3/4 cups flour

• 1 tsp baking powder

• 3/4 tsp salt

• 1 tsp cinnamon

• 1/2 tsp of each of the following: ground cloves, nutmeg, powdered ginger

   

1. Preheat your oven to 200 degrees C. Use butter to grease a loaf pan (13x9 inches).

2. Crack both eggs into a medium sized bowl and beat with a fork. Add your sugar and oil and combine.

3. Peel your baked pumpkin and mash it with a fork. Add to your mixture and beat rigorously until the clumps have mostly blended in.

4. In a separate, smaller bowl mix together your flour, baking powder, salt and spices. Add this in with the pumpkin mixture. At this point, you're going to want a dough that's quite liquid-y and not at all sticky. If your's is not, feel free to add a tablespoon or two of water to thin it down.

5. Bake for 40-50 mins, until the top is golden brown. I always do the toothpick test with this bread- just insert a toothpick and if it comes out clean then your bread is done!

6. Let it cool in the pan for about 5 mins and then transfer to a cooling rack.

Verena

As soon as the colder months roll around, I'm all about hot breakfast dishes such as our favourite quinoa porridge, a recipe I recently shared over on my own blog. I'm also determined to find the perfect recipe for cinnamon rolls this fall (recommendations, anyone, ideally vegan?), and another go-to recipe at our house is a fall-inspired vegetable soup. Depending on how many friends we'll have over for dinner, I'll adjust the amounts accordingly, but basically I just sauté some onion, garlic and ginger, then add pumpkin, carrots, a few potatoes, red lentils and a couple of tomatoes or whatever I have on hand, sauté them some more before adding vegetable broth and a can of coconut milk as well as fresh herbs, salt and pepper, cook it until the veggies are soft, and then blend it. That's it!

Claire

In Autumn I'm obsessed with steaming mugs of mulled cider! The smell travels through the whole house and it's so easy to make. Pour your apple cider (the alcoholic type) into your pot with some cloudy apple juice (this is what we call it in the UK!), I usually do two cans of cider and one 750ml bottle of fresh cloudy apple juice. If you want to go non-alcoholic just use apple juice. I then add about ¼ cup dark brown sugar or a mixture of honey and molasses and then you add your spices! You can buy mulling bags everywhere now and if you have those throw in 1 or 2 depending on how spicy you want it. If you are planning on mulling a lot over winter (like me!) it's always good to have the spices in your cupboard, you'll need cinnamon sticks, nutmeg (whole if you can find them and grate them into your cider), allspice balls, star anise, whole cloves, bay leaves and cardamom pods. Add a small amount of each of the spices to start with and adjust to your tastes, I always go heavier on the cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg! Add strips of fresh orange peel and gently heat and stir until the sugar is dissolved and the cider is steaming, though not boiling. Ladle into your favourite mug or glass and add a cinnamon stick and enjoy! If you are bedding in for the day and want to make it a little more alcoholic, adding a little spiced rum or whiskey tastes very nice!

Hanna Lisa

All the warm comfort foods! I recently started eating wheat and sugar again, so I've been spending a lot of time baking - I really missed that, and I think fall is the perfect season for turning on the oven. Other than that, I have a firm favourite when it comes to breakfast in the fall…

Oatmeal-porridge-variation (for one):

Take 2 tablespoons of oats (not the instant ones!), put them into a small pot and add a splash of water. While they're soaking, cut up half a banana into smaller chunks, and your preferred fruit of the season (apples are great, as are plums or oranges!). Add the banana and a good splash of milk to the pot and turn on the stove to medium heat. Feel free to add a pinch of salt and a bit of cinnamon if you like! Cook the oat mixture, stirring frequently until the banana chunks have broken down and you have a porridge-like consistency. Spoon into a bowl, top with the fruit, additional cinnamon and, if you feel like it, almonds or hazelnuts. Enjoy!

I can't wait to give all of these recipes a try and I'll be honest with you, there will be a pot of cider going on the stove this afternoon! If you have your own recipe that you'd like to share we'd love to hear from you! Also if you try any of our recipes let us know what you think in the comments below!

Until next time, woolly greetings!

Claire x