Once we reach September and the summer starts winding down, everybody is ready to relax into autumn.
If you’re running a restaurant or a cafe, you know that you’ve got to adapt to the changing seasons.
People want to get into the spirit of falling leaves and darker evenings and you can appeal to those autumn-lovers with your menu.
We all love having a choice of some themed meals or desserts when we’re out to eat and when it comes to autumn there’s a lot of different and interesting ways that you can experiment.
And you might think that it will be a challenge to make sure that you’re still serving something healthy to your customers as people turn to comforting classics and carbs are back on the menu, but with a few simple tweaks, this really isn't a problem at all.
So here are five healthy recipes that you can try out for your menu this Autumn.
Cinnamon Ginger Pancakes
Cinnamon is tasty all year round but it’s one of the most popular spices in autumn and is also extremely adaptable, enhancing the flavour profiles of both sweet and savoury dishes. The health benefits of cinnamon are pretty numerous. It’s good for your heart, your brain, your blood sugar and a bunch other things too.The fact that it’s delicious and it goes well with awesome desserts like these ginger pancakes is just an added bonus.All you need to do is add eggs, sliced bananas, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, orange zest and vanilla extract to a blender and process until it’s nice and smooth.Add in some almond meal and coconut flour until you reach the right consistency and then sift in some baking powder to ensure they're light and fluffy.Heat up your frying pan, and gently pour about one-quarter of a cup of the mixture into the pan for each of the pancakes.Heat them for two minutes on each side and then repeat until the mixture is all used up. You’ll have yourself a batch of cinnamon ginger pancakes in no time. And what's more, they're gluten and dairy free too!
Pumpkin Spaghetti with Garlic Kale
Pumpkin spaghetti. Yep. I bet that’s not an idea that ever crossed your mind before. It might sound like a strange combination, but it’s actually pretty delicious.For the pumpkin sauce, you’ll need a cup of sun dried tomatoes, a chopped onion, two sage leaves, a cup and a half of pumpkin puree and four cups of chicken broth.A half cup of cream, a cup of tomato puree and a teaspoon of dried basil will also come into play here. Start with the tomato, in a large pot over medium heat and then add some oil.Add the onions, the sage and two cloves of minced garlic into the pot and then let that simmer for a while. Once it’s soft, add the rest of the ingredients and let it simmer for fifteen minutes.Finish it off by pureeing in the blender until everything is smooth. Boil pasta like you normally would and while it’s on you can brown a pound of turkey in a skillet.Throw an onion, and a tablespoon each of chili powder and garlic powder in with the turkey and let all of that cook together. Finally, cook a bunch of chopped, de-stemmed kale over some heated olive oil until it’s wilted and then add everything together. Top this unique recipe off with some grated cheese or parmesan and you’ve got a dish that will blow your customers away.
Pumpkin Roasted Apple Soup
That’s right, we’ve got pumpkins on this list yet again.What can we say? The pumpkin is one of, if not the single most famous autumn food and is universally recognized as a staple of the season. There’s countless ways to use them too.This would make a great first course for any autumnal meal and it’s also a healthy way to enjoy this squash plant. Start by getting your primary ingredients together in a large bowl. This will be four pounds of pumpkin, four sweet-tart apples and a teaspoon each of salt and pepper.Spread this out on a baking sheet and roast it for thirty minutes. Stir in the sage and then roast for another twenty minutes until it’s beginning to brown.Stick about a third of this mixture into a blender with two cups of chicken broth and let it process until it’s smooth. Store this batch in a Dutch oven for the moment.Do this again with the last two batches and then heat everything on medium for about five or six minutes. Make sure to stir throughout this last step.After this, it’s ready to serve, and we can almost guarantee it will be a popular choice.
Chickpea Chili
Nothing says fall like a nice big bowl of chickpea chili. This is the perfect vegan meal for those particularly chilly (pardon the pun) evenings and you’re customers will go crazy for it.You can have this either as a traditionally spicy chili dish by including something like buffalo sauce or you can exclude that completely for those of us that aren’t keen on spicy food.Though you can cook this on the stove, the best way is in a slow cooker. We know that doesn’t actually sound like a useful device, but it’s actually a great way to cook certain meals.If you go by this method, you will probably want to get a batch of it started early enough in the day if you want it ready by dinner time.But beyond that, the recipe is pretty straightforward despite the large amount of ingredients. Just get everything together in the slow cooker, stir well and let it cook for about six hours.You’ll need 15 oz each of diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, chickpeas and a protein of your choice. A cup of diced carrot and half a cup each of diced onion and celery. Then just a tablespoon each of garlic, chili powder, paprika, salt and cumin.This makes for a delicious mix of flavours. If you want to cook this on the stove then mix it all in a pot and leave it for about thirty-five minutes. Just know this may sacrifice a bit of the flavour.
Apple Cider Donuts
This probably doesn’t sound healthy at all. The word donut probably shouldn’t be in the vocabulary of someone trying to keep their health on track but this isn’t as bad as it sounds.You will need a donut maker for this.The trick here, is to avoid using any oil or eggs in the recipe, and instead make your donuts with Greek yoghurt. You’ll need about 3 oz of the stuff to make twelve mini donuts.You’ll also need a half cup of flour and a half tablespoon each of baking soda and baking powder, a pinch of salt and of course, a quarter cup of apple cider.Mix everything except for the Greek yoghurt and the apple cider together until it’s all well-blended and then add in those last two ingredients. Keep mixing until it’s got the consistency of pancake batter, then spoon the mixture into the individual wells of a preheated donut maker. Bake them here until they’re golden brown.For the glaze, just mix some powdered sugar, cinnamon and apple cider in a shallow bowl until it’s well-blended. Let the donuts cool a bit and then dip them into the glaze. Let everything dry and then the batch is ready. Like we said, this is a recipe that will catch people’s interest just because of how unusual of a thing it is to see offered in restaurants.And once they’ve had a taste, it’s sure to become an autumn favourite.
Conclusion
Ever since we were kids, we’ve associated autumn, Halloween and the build-up to Christmas with sugary, unhealthy food. But that doesn’t have to be the case. Offer people something that they can’t get anywhere else: Autumn recipes that are both delicious and healthy.To find out how Kafoodle can help you communicate your nutrition and allergen information to your diners get in touch today on 020 3371 0450 or email us at info@kafoodle.com