October Fall Freezer Meals Are Here!

A few months ago, I discovered what feels like a little life hack.

I started spending an hour each month getting a few meals prepped for the month ahead. We’re talking just assembling stuff for my favorite recipes into bags and freezing it!

And I can’t tell you how much this system makes me feel like I have my life together! It’s the best.

What I Prepped:

What I Got:

The recipes this month are absolute family favorites for fall!

And they all have cook times for Crockpot, Instant Pot, and stovetop methods. 🙂

Hope these help make your life easier this month like they have for us!

These Are What I’ve Been Eating For Breakfast Every Day

YUM these little meal prep apple muffins have been such a treat for my mornings!

Open windows! Crisp fall air! Hot coffee! A warm, streusely, lightly cinnamony apple muffin with tons of wholesome stuff in it and a generous pat of butter on top! It’s what I’m doing every day right now, and it’s my dream life.

The main ingredients here are shockingly basic:

• oats
• apples
• eggs
• yogurt
• vanilla
• cinnamon

I threw some brown sugar streusel on top, because streusel increases my interest in any muffin by about 500%.

I’ve been packing one of these in my girls’ lunchboxes almost every time we pack a cold lunch! I also bring them for a car snack after school pick up. My kids honestly eat one of these (or these pumpkin ones, or these zucchini ones) once a day at this point.

Hope you love them!

Oh, This Is Good.

Like, slurp that savory broth and go back for a third bowl kind of good.

My daughter got sick last week, which means that our whole family got sick last week. And when I get sick, I lose two things: 1) my appetite, and 2) my interest in cooking.

This pastina soup truly SAVED us last week. It is:

• Incredibly easy to make.
• So, so savory and flavorful.
• Light (like, practically drinkable) but nutrient-rich.
• Warm, cozy, and healing.
• Generous – like, every time I make it, I end up freezing half of the broth for our next sick day, or to share with someone when they might need it.

I can’t say enough about how much I loved this last week. I sat down at the table with a steamy bowl with extra parm on top, and found myself repeatedly going back for “just one more scoop” of the broth over those tiny stars, even though I swore I hadn’t been feeling hungry just a moment earlier.

My girls were pretty excited about eating tiny star pasta with olive oil + Parmesan, while Bjork and I ladled the luscious broth over our bowls and finally tucked into some nurturing food for the first time in several days.

Pastina refers to the tiny star shaped pasta, which I found at Target, and the nickname Italian Penicillin refers to the healing nature of the savory broth – almost like a chicken noodle soup, but simpler. (And if I’m being honest, I prefer this to chicken noodle.)

I hope you are healthy and well, physically and emotionally. But if you’re not, this is comfort meal that has been serving our family so well lately!

The Apple Crisp I’ve Been Making For Years.

I jotted this apple crisp recipe into the notes app in my phone several years ago, and I return to it every fall.

This apple crisp is it for me.

Jammy, cinnamon-scented apples baked under a heavy (and I do mean heavy) blanket of buttery crumble.

I remember first making this in our old kitchen for a late-October dinner party – I made wild rice soup and apple cider old fashioneds (unreal), and someone pulled out the guitar just as the smell of apple crisp was floating from the oven. Absolutely charmed. I obviously bonded with this specific apple crisp that night and it has been with me ever since.

Why it’s good, if you ask me: the caramely apple layer underneath gets properly jammy, the topping gets properly crisp – just enough to provide contrast, AND, and, and, where the two layers melt together in the middle is just pure fall magic. Soft, buttery, and delicious.

Apple crisp in general is very simple, and this one feels rustic, almost, especially if you make it in a cast iron pan, which I usually do. Is she making apple crisp or is she living out her dreams from Little House on the Prairie on a chilly fall night? We’ll never know.

Hope this brings you lots of fall cozy!

But Really, I Could Drink That Sauce.

That tomatoey, creamy, shallot-infused gravy is something I haven’t been able to stop thinking about.

I made this dinner for my family on the first barely chilly day a few weeks ago. I think my body had just been waiting for permission to go fall cooking mode, and I just unleashed.

Pan-fried chicken. Luscious, savory Cajun cream sauce. Homemade mashed potatoes. Green beans. Apple crisp for dessert.

I served it in deep bowls and we let the girls eat on the living room floor, using the coffee table as their table, while we watched American Ninja Warrior together with the windows open – which, frankly, is the move of two parents who are feeling extra generous and a little out of their mind with the joys of early fall weather. But that meal will be a top 5 meal for me this year, for sure. We all devoured in silence and then cozied up with full bellies to watch some ridiculous TV together.

Here’s an idea I keep coming back to: shrimp. Like what if you just made the sauce, and then threw a pound of uncooked jumbo shrimp in there? It would poach right in the sauce! I haven’t been able to pull myself away from the chicken and mashed potatoes combination, but I feel shrimp should at least be considered.

Hope this recipe gives you all same cozy fall feelings it gave me.