The temperatures dropped this week and it has me excited for cozy fall food. We’ve been living on grilled food and corn and salads that don’t require any heat, but now that it’s cooler outside. I’m excited to start making warmer foods—soups, roasted veggies, anything with apples or pumpkins or squash. Especially now that we’re back in the rush of kids school and activities, and it seems like I have very limited cooking time, I love to make a soup that we can eat for lunch several times, or extra roasted veggies that I can heat up quickly and throw onto a salad. Here are a few of my favorites!

Soups:

Barefoot Contessa Winter Minestrone Soup: This is a rich and cozy soup that I’ll serve as a meal with some bread for the kids. I’ll grab precut veggies at Trader Joe’s to make it easier (the butternut squash zig zags are perfect for this). I also sometimes skip the beans, and if I’m trying to make it last a few days, I’ll leave the cooked noodles and spinach out of the pot and just put them at the bottom of the bowl and ladle some hot soup on top-this keeps them from absorbing too much of the broth.

Barefoot Contessa Roasted Tomato Soup: This is a very simple recipe that my kids love! I make this for dinner or lunch with a grilled cheese on the side and everyone is happy-even my husband who usually wants meat at every meal. You have to start a little bit ahead because you need time to roast the tomatoes, but I usually do that earlier in the day and then the soup itself comes together very quickly.

Half Baked Harvest Spicy Peanut Soup: I was totally obsessed with this soup last spring during quarantine, and I can’t wait to make it again this fall. It’s such an interesting combination of flavors-it feels sort of Thai and a mix of sweet and spicy. The kale and sweet potatoes are filling, so it makes a great lunch and it lasts for a few days. I usually skip the halloumi to make it easier, but it’s still so good. Definitely more of adult flavor-Chad loves it but the kids have no interest.

Damn Delicious Homestyle Chicken Noodle Soup: Two of my girls live for chicken noodle soup, and this is a great simple recipe, although I’ll sometimes skip or reduce the amount of dill so that I don’t have to hear concerns about suspicious “green stuff” in the broth.

Salads:

Half Baked Harvest Kale Caesar with Sweet Potatoes: My girls are obsessed with caesar salad and with sweet potatoes, so when I found this recipe, it was a no brainer to try. I love kale, but the girls are always into it, so sometimes I’ll sub in spinach or chop the kale up into little pieces so that they don’t get overwhelmed by it. It’s a great option for making big batches of the dressing and roasted sweet potatoes and chickpeas then having ingredients that are easy to assemble all week.

Half Baked Harvest Greek Chicken Chopped Salad: I use the marinade all the time when I want to throw some chicken together quickly and cook it on the grill or the grill pan. Often, I’ll prep all of the ingredients and leave them out in a salad bar format so that everyone can have exactly what they want. It’s a great dinner with a side of naan!

Cookie and Kate Green Salad with Apples, Cranberries and Pepitas: A simple recipe that includes lots of fall favorites but is still light and yummy!

Barefoot Contessa Winter Slaw: This is a great side that goes with almost any protein—steak, grilled chicken, salmon—the possibilities are endless! It also keeps for a few days in the fridge and is great for leftovers.