It’s easy to ignore your slow cooker in the summer… hot foods may sound less appealing, and you may be too busy doing all the fun summer activities to give dinner much thought.
Besides, you can just chomp down on a watermelon and feel great. Summer is awesome. But it’s not forever.
Now that sweater weather is approaching and you’re taking a pause on vacation days till winter, it’s time to break out the Crock-Pot recipes again.
You get to put minimal effort into cooking dinner, and you’ll likely have leftovers (the OG meal prep). Besides, what’s better than turning a slow-cooker on at lunchtime and having a delicious meal ready for you by the evening — with almost no extra input?
Best of all, these healthy fall slow-cooker recipes are filled with pumpkin, cinnamon, apples, and sage, so you’re pretty much guaranteed a flavorful, delicious-smelling meal.
Soups
1. Sweet potato, apple, and turmeric soup
This creamy vegan soup is a must on the first chilly day of fall. It’s made with coconut milk, garlic, sweet potatoes, apples, vegetable stock, and turmeric.
If you’re feeling ambitious, top it with maple-roasted chickpeas, though it’s just as good without.
2. Slow-cooker chicken potato soup
Whether you’re fighting off a cold or you just want a cozy bowl of soup, this chicken potato soup is so comforting.
With a simple recipe of chicken broth, chicken breast, veggies, and bacon, it’s creamier than a homemade version, but tasty enough to become the next classic.
3. Slow cooker butternut squash soup
Is it really fall without butternut squash?
This soup is heavy on the fall ingredients, including sage, cinnamon, and squash as well. An apple makes it just a little tart, and you can control the spice factor by serving the cayenne pepper on top. Plus, it uses coconut milk, so it works for vegan or non-dairy diets.
Mains
. Apple butter pork tenderloin
This recipe’s rubbed with paprika, brown sugar, garlic, and thyme.
Then, it gets cooked in an apple butter, apple cider vinegar, and mustard sauce. Making pork this way could really help you step up your game in the kitchen. Serve it with grits or a side of roasted veggies.
5. Pumpkin overnight oats
This can really become a main course breakfast staple, warming you to the core with minimal effort.
There are about 10,023 pumpkin-flavored cookies, candies, and coffees in stores right now. So, do yourself a favor and get your pumpkin satisfaction at home, in the a.m., the right way.
It’ll make it way easier to resist that pumpkin spice latte once the afternoon rolls around.
Sides and snacks
It’s not only the main that needs to warm your soul…
6. Maple bacon baked beans
Make this as a side to add to your lunch or dinner throughout the week — it tastes as good with chicken as it does with tofu.
It’s just sweet enough thanks to maple syrup and coconut sugar, and subs in turkey bacon to make it a little lighter.
7. Slow cooker vegetable stuffing with sourdough
At some point, be it for Thanksgiving, Friendsgiving, or the winter holiday season, you’re probably going to be putting together some form of a roast dinner.
And all eyes will be on the stuffing. This offering will please vegetarians, vegans, and meat-eaters alike, with a satisfying hit of day-old sourdough and a five-veggie punch. You can make the stuffing vegan by passing up on the eggs and using a non-dairy butter.
8. Pumpkin spice pecans, almonds, and cashews
Slow cookers aren’t just for huge, hearty meals, you know. You can also make snacks for those moments when you really need an autumnal nibble.
So, the pumpkin oats a few recipes up weren’t enough to scratch the pumpkin spice itch. Then what?
Well, you could head out for an overpriced latte, or you can get the full pumpkin spice experience by merely switching on a slow cooker and getting your nuttiness flavor on.
You’ll want it to be fall forever with this cinnamony, mapley, pumpkin-spicy concoction. The only thing easier than making it is eating it.
Dessert, please
Slow cookers can make you some amazing sweet goodies if you’ve got the patience.
9. Crock-Pot baked apples
Think of these as a healthier (and easier) alternative to apple pie. Just wash and core apples, scoop a brown sugar mixture inside them, and put ’em in the Crock-Pot with a little apple juice.
Serve with nuts or a dollop of your favorite ice cream.
10. Chocolate peanut butter pudding cake
Chocolate. Peanut butter. Pudding. Cake. That’s a whole lot of good words in a row.
And what’s best is that you can mix the ingredients and, as long as you have a paper towel to absorb the condensation between the cooker and lid, you’ll have a f*cking delicious pudding ready in 90 minutes.
Make the original mixture, turn your slow cooker on, go watch a movie, then come back, and you’ll have dessert.
Takeaway
A long cooking time doesn’t mean a long prep time. All the above recipes are super easy and just require a wait.
Slow cooking can warm you up in colder climes, but also help occupy your mind in darker times — check out how one of our writers used slow cooking to get over their ex.
from Greatist Health RSS Feed https://bit.ly/2J87KR9
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