WIAW – The “Cleanse” Edition

You may be thinking, “oh my god, this girl and her ‘cleanses'”. But today I am doing anything but eating. See, tomorrow as part of my ever growing love affair with Crohn’s I will be having another colonoscopy. Yup. So that means today is nothing but water, tea, lemon juice, and vegetable broth. As delicious as that sounds, try not to be too jealous.

So instead of talking about things that I am not eating, let’s take a look as some recipes I’ve pinned (follow me!) that have me totally excited about the fall season approaching. I will try to keep the basic #OMGEverythingPumpkin at bay, but pumpkin and butternut squash are some of my favoritest things. Which means every single recipe will probably include one or the other. Sorry not sorry.

As always, thanks Jenn for hosting!

1. Slow Cooker Indian Butternut Squash and Red Lentil Curry (recipe here)
   

I’m all about this recipe for a few reasons. The first being Indian food is still pretty new to me. I never had it until I started my boyfriend about two years ago. I think part of the reason I am drawn to Indian cuisine is because by nature, it’s vegetarian friendly. But also, the flavors and spices in each and every meal are something that I love trying to recreate. I think this recipe will be a hit with me this fall. Easily made vegan (thank you!) and will provide me with a welcome bit of warmth in my forever freezing office.

2. Roasted Butternut Squash and Garlic Enchiladas (recipe here)

Again, another butternut squash dish. But I tell you, that handy dandy fall veggie keeps me full for hours. Mexican is one of my favorite “types” of food, so I’m beyond excited to try this recipe out. While maybe a little difficult to take on the go, this would be a great meal for me to prep on Sunday and eat every.single.night for dinner. Because enchiladas and butternut squash do not get old to me. Ever. I will sadly be omitting the garlic as sometimes that is not my GI’s best friend. But otherwise, definitely a MUST for this fall.

3. Pumpkin & Kale Lasagna (recipe here)

There it is. The first pumpkin recipe of the post. While I love all things orange: pumpkin, butternut squash…. just those two things really, I figured I should throw some green into these recipes. Therefore – Kale. I will admittedly have to play around with this recipes because of it’s use of cheese. While I love Diaya products, I am not too familiar how they handle when cooking/baking. If anyone has any suggestions or tips – like should I use slices, blocks, or shredded – please let me know! I will try this out, most likely without telling anyone so if it all goes to hell, no one is the wiser.

4. Oatmeal Pumpkin Bread (recipe here)

Who doesn’t love bread. Amirite? So I had to throw this one in here, and I even picked a healthy one. One serving (the recipe/loaf = 8 slices) provides 38 grams of carbs, only 15g of sugar, and almost 5g of protein. I’ll take it. And roughly 279 calories a slice. Oats, flax seed, and pumpkin have great staying power, and I’m betting this would quickly become my go-to afternoon work snack, especially if I had a workout later on in the day. Needless to say, I love the combination of pumpkin and oats. And this recipe also happens to be totally vegan.  Really looking forward to recreating this in the kitchen (hopefully this weekend).

5. Paleo Apple Crisp (recipe here)

I love apple crisp. It reminds me of fall but more specifically of Thanksgiving. Warm crisp with melting vanilla ice cream use to be one of my favorite indulgences. Although I make a mean apple crisp, it’s nots something my body can handle any more. The extra sugar and the dairy (read: blocks of butter) just do not digest well. But I think I may have hit the jackpot with this recipe. No dairy. Yep, I love you paleo (not all the time, but right now I do). This will be coming your way holiday time.

6. Butterfinger Fudge (recipe here)

I really don’t have any explanation as to why I want to make this other than it reminds me Halloween, this photo is adorable (love candy corn), and it sounds mouthwatering delicious. Needless to say, I don’t think this is one that is too GI friendly for me. Massive amounts of sugar, but my lord it sounds absolutely delicious. And it’s no bake which means it’s perfect to make last minute and bring to the office, family gathering, or holiday party to share. Easy peasy.

And that’s it. I mean I have a billion (I never exaggerate) recipes on my Pinterest board that you should all check out, but these are some of my most recent fall finds. I look forward to eating #AllTheThings at roughly 10AM Thursday morning, but until then I will be dreaming of Butterfinger fudge and Oatmeal Pumpkin bread.

Hope you have a delicious Wednesday!

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I’ve seen a lot of donuts on Pinterest. Do people actually make their own? I have no idea why but this blows my mind.

What is your favorite vegetable to cook with during the fall months?

Do you have a dessert that reminds you of a specific holiday?