Fall on the Tip of Your Tongue:Three Fall Recipes

With the busy Thanksgiving/Christmas season upon us, I wanted to share three simple, yet delicious recipes that embrace autumn. These recipes are easy enough for a simple autumn lunch at home, and special enough to serve at family gatherings.

No fuss. Just delicious.

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{Creamy Pumpkin Soup}

Ingredients:

1 cup chopped onion

2 tbsp butter

2 cans chicken broth (or 30 oz homemade chicken stock)

1 can pumpkin purée (found in baking aisle)

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

1/8 tsp ground ginger

dash of allspice

1/8 tsp ground black pepper

salt to taste

1 cup heavy whipping cream (plus extra for serving)

*optional - 1 to 2 tablespoons of brown sugar if you like a sweet pumpkin soup.

Directions:

1.Sauté onion in butter in a medium saucepan until tender. Add 1 can chicken broth (I used homemade chicken stock); stir well. Bring to a boil; cover, reduce heat, and simmer 10 to 15 minutes.

2.Transfer broth mixture into the container of a blender or processor. (Or use one of my favorite kitchen gadgets-the handy Hamilton Beach hand blender, where you can blend your mixture right in the pot!) Process until smooth.

3.Return mixture to saucepan. Add remaining (can of) broth, pumpkin, salt, ground cinnamon, ground ginger, allspice, and ground pepper; stir well. Bring to a boil; cover; reduce heat, and simmer 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

4. Stir in whipping cream and heat through. Do not boil. Ladle into separate soup bowls and garnish with whipping cream and cinnamon.

{Cranberry Clafouti ~ Clafoutis aux canneberges}

This delicious French dessert replaces cherries with seasonal cranberries.

I plan on serving Cranberry Clafouti for breakfast with eggs and bacon when my parents come for a visit. (I topped mine with Cool Whip instead of whipped heavy cream.)

Recipe via Martha Stewart

{Acorn snacks}

I found this idea on Pinterest a few weeks ago, and I (or shall I say we) have already made these acorn snacks twice. This snack is perfect for creating with younger kids. Just create an assembly line: one person remove the foil paper from the Hershey Kisses, one add the peanut butter to the Nilla Waffer, and lastly one put them together...And who doesn't like chocolate and peanut butter?

Bon Appétit!

_{images via à la parisienne}