17 November Favorites

 

With the commercial popularity of Halloween and Christmas, November can start to feel like a flyover month, a space for cleaning up one set of decorations and pile of candy wrappers and planning the next one. I refuse to fly over Thanksgiving, or any of the delicious, comforting foods that I’ve featured on these pages in this final month of fall. Pumpkin, cranberries and apples are headliners in my favorite November posts, of course, and there are other delicious baked goods and late season vegetables that contribute to the comforting table.

Here is a list of 17 favorites posted in this month from The Messy Apron Archives:

Pumpkin gets swirled into every meal at this time of year. Pumpkin Baked Oatmeal is a wholesome and comforting breakfast dish,

 

and Pumpkin Waffles take a bit more time, but make great weekend brunches.

 

Quick breads and coffee cakes are always welcome at the breakfast table, as well as part of a complete afternoon snack. There’s Cranberry Apple Oatmeal Coffee Cake.

 

And for a pumpkin quick bread fix, I’ve posted three different pumpkin muffins in Novembers past: Pumpkin Spice Latte Muffins, Pumpkin Molasses Muffins, and Pumpkin Cranberry Muffins.

Some of my November favorites are yeast breads, like Pumpkin Focaccia with Walnuts and Swiss

 

And Whole Wheat Pita Bread.

Other dishes with late-season ingredients: Spicy Spaghetti Squash Stir Fry

Wheat Berry and Squash Salad with Seeds and Sage

And Pumpkin Alfredo Sauce, which is great with cheese tortellini or ravioli.

For a warm-up in the colder weather there’s Mulled Apple Cider.

Of course, the big show of November is Thanksgiving. Cranberry Sauce is a must, and I rely on this simple recipe, which can be varied in so many ways.

Pumpkin pie has to be there as well, so I have posted both Grandmama’s Pumpkin Pie, which is classic and comforting

and Bourbon Vanilla Pumpkin Pie, a warm and fragrant twist on tradition.

If you don’t go for pumpkin in your Thanksgiving dessert, however, you could make Pear Apple Crumble Pie.

After celebrating Thanksgiving, there’s still some November left, so you might as well start getting ready for Christmas. Chai Spice Cashew Butter Cookies are a great way to get in the holiday baking spirit.

There are so many good things to make in November, so don’t get so caught up anticipating upcoming chaos that you miss out.

Other posts like this one: 10 Favorites with Fresh Cranberries, 21 Favorite Winter Salads, 13 Soups for Cold Times, 14 Sweet Pumpkin Recipes

Friday Night

This has been one of those weeks when I inexplicably fall asleep by about 8:00pm watching Rifftrax just about every night. That sleep seems to have been effective sleep, however, since it’s Friday night and I don’t even feel half-dead. Hooray! Of course, the shameful pile of spent candy wrappers, remnants of a dive into Halloween leftovers, may tell a story of a sugar-fueled evening instead.

Reading…

**Escapism required! I’m desperate for a release from the dark reality of these pre-midterm election days. This evening, I started on The Call of Earth, the second book in the Homecoming series by Orson Scott Card. This series was published in the 1990s but I never read it. The first book, The Memory of Earth was quite enjoyable.

If I can’t get satisfactorily immersed, I may try A Wind in the Door by Madeline L’Engle (no, I’ve never read that, either), or Terminal Alliance, my newest acquisition by a favorite author, Jim C. Hines.

**Comfort also required. In addition to escapism, comfort would be good, too, so I’m feeling like I should just read some favorites, like The Wizard of Oz or something by Jane Austen or Ursula K. LeGuin.

The Day Job…

**Halloween cosplay. We are welcome to wear costumes at work on Halloween, so one of the people I supervise put a small amount of effort into dressing up as yours truly. Since I am a middle-aged, rather white woman of European descent, it was strange to see myself cosplayed by a bearded African American man half my age. You just know you’ve become a certain kind of special person in the universe when something like this happens to you. I’ve decided to hold to the idea that imitation is the highest form of flattery.

Cooking…

**Prep ahead = success. I was pretty resourceful, for once, in using up the wheat berries and chickpeas I cooked toward the end of last week. I made two dishes starring both of them: a savory pilaf and a composed grain bowl. Each was delicious, but I actually took some notes about the grain bowl, which started with sautéed and seasoned wheat berries flavored intensely with some roasted cherry tomatoes I had in the freezer. I roasted the chickpeas with some olive oil and smoked paprika and put them on the top of the wheat berries along with some garnishes of diced red onions, kalamata olives, and feta cheese. I loved it!

**This weekend’s prep; next week’s ideas. I hope to roast up a good bit of the home-grown butternut squash I have left and use it in some good suppers. First up will be Roasted Squash Soup with Black Bean Salsa. I haven’t made Winter Squash and Leek Empanadas with Sage for years, but I hope I have time to make them soon, too. Not only are they a good used of squash that I can cook ahead, but they’re also great to have in the freezer for quick week night meals.

**Internet recipe fantasies. This link loaded with delicious pies.

These make-ahead ideas.

This fun concept.

And this sheet pan mac & cheese with pumpkin with it's mesmerizing how-to video. Guaranteed to destroy my weight loss fantasies!

**Coming soon. A new recipe for a sweet raisin bread.

A new month has begun once again! A post of links to favorites from the month of November should be up in a few days.

I hope this has been a good week for you. I have the weekend off from The Day Job– plus an extra hour with the end of Daylight Savings Time! – and hopefully I will be able to use it wisely.

Speaking of wisdom: be sure to vote on Tuesday, November 6!