When the weather starts to turn cool, our favorite way to warm up is with hearty and healthy recipes that can easily last us a few meals (we’re taking pre-made lunches for the workweek!) While we prefer to keep it vegetarian, meat can be added to almost any of these for some extra protein.

One Pot Lemon Orzo Soup

The best part about this one pot meal from Half Baked Harvest is that it takes 30 minutes from start to finish. Easy to put together on a weekday, it gets us our greens, tastes delicious and is very hearty and filling. Not to mention, it’s flexible and allows you to use what you have on hand!

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 shallot, chopped
• 4-6 garlic cloves, smashed
• Red pepper flakes
• 2 tbsp salted butter
• 2 cups dry orzo pasta
• 6 cups low sodium chicken or vegetable broth
• 1 can cannellini beans
• ½ bunch of kale, spinach (or whatever green you have on hand)
• ½ cup basil pesto
• ½ cup whole milk or coconut milk (whatever you have on hand)
• 1 cup parmesan cheese
• Zest and juice of 1 lemon

Instructions:

1. Heat your olive oil in a dutch oven over medium high heat.
2. Add shallots, garlic and chili flakes. Cook for about 5 minutes.
3. Drop in the butter, and then stir in the orzo. Cook until golden (about 1-3 minutes) and season with salt and pepper.
4. Stir in your beans and your green of choice.
5. Simmer for 8-10 minutes – it will become very creamy!
6. Stir in the pesto, milk, parmesan and lemon and cook for another few minutes to warm through.
7. Serve in bowls with additional parmesan and black pepper.

Spiced Moroccan Butternut Squash & Couscous

A vegetarian take on one of our favorite recipes from New York Times Cooking: Sarah Digregorio’s Slow Cooker Chicken Tagine with Butternut Squash. Don’t be intimidated by the list of ingredients – the concoction of flavor that this delivers is unbelievable. With its sweet, savory and nourishing profile, this dish is perfect for the Fall. We like to make a big batch on Sunday afternoons and eat it for lunch all week!

Ingredients:

• 1 medium to large butternut squash – cut into slices and then halved, gutted and cut into wedges
• 8 pitted dates
• 1 onion – chopped
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 2 tsp sweet paprika
• 1½ tsp turmeric
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• ½ tsp hot smoked paprika
• ½ tsp ground ginger
• ¼ tsp ground cloves
• ¼ tsp cayenne pepper
• 2 tbsp avocado oil
• 1 large red onion
• ¼ cup minced ginger
• 6 garlic cloves, chopped
• ¼ cup lemon juice (or 1 large lemon)
• 2 cups vegetable broth
• Served with: Cooked couscous and flavored to your liking (we like adding walnuts and cranberries)
• Garnished with: Plain yogurt & toasted almonds

Instructions:

1. Add your oil to a 6 to 8 quart slow cooker or dutch oven and set to medium. Add your dates, butternut squash, garlic, red onion and ginger.
2. While everything is heating up, combine your spices in a small bowl and add to the pot. Mix everything together in the spices and season with salt and pepper.
3. Once brown bits are starting to form on the bottom of the pan, add your broth and lemon juice, stirring to scrape up the bits and get everything submerged.
4. Cover your pot and let it simmer on medium low for 1 – 1.5 hours (or 4 hours, if using a slow cooker.)
5. You’ll know it’s done when the squash is almost falling apart. Serve with couscous and top with yogurt and almonds.

Chili Verde with White Beans

This vegetarian (and slightly simplified) rendition of J. Kenji López-Alt’s Chicken Chile Verde is the perfect way for a spice lover to warm up this fall. While Kenji recommends roasting your own peppers, we prefer buying them pre-roasted and skinned, to make it extra easy to throw this together!

Ingredients:

• 7 tomatillos, quartered
• 1 pound of roasted and skinned hatch green chilis or poblanos
• 6 garlic cloves
• 1 large white onion, chopped
• 2 serranos or jalapenos (don’t include, if you don’t like spicy)
• 1 cup vegetable broth
• 1 can cannellini beans
• 1 tbsp cumin
• ½ cup cilantro
• 1 tbsp asian fish sauce
• Serve with: Cornbread and cheddar cheese

Instructions:

1. Combine tomatillos, hatch green chilis, garlic, onion, serranos, cumin and a pinch of salt in a dutch oven, over medium high heat.
2. Once the vegetables are toasted, add your broth and bring to a simmer.
3. Once simmering, put the cover on your dutch oven and turn the heat down to medium low. Let it cook for 1 hour.
4. Add your cilantro and fish sauce and use an immersion blender to blend your chili together until smooth.
5. Add your white beans and cook for a few more minutes, until everything is heated up.
6. Serve with cornbread and some shredded cheddar cheese.