While there are still a few disproportionately lovely days (nearly 80 degrees fahrenheit in November is honestly quite concerning), in the United States we are well into the thick of autumn and it’s feeling like it. Unfortunately, that most likely means fewer picnics and less time outdoors. Typically that wouldn’t be a major issue on its own, but it is with the added concerns of the way COVID-19 spreads. Considering the increased rate of spread within enclosed, human-built environments, it’s more important not to cave to the desire to just hang out with your friends in person. So, that being said, I’m back with some fall inspired things you can do with your friends over Zoom. Let’s get cooking!
No really, this week all I’ve been thinking about is cooking. Fall is the perfect time for warm, hearty and well spiced dishes and lots of tasty things fall into those categories. Additionally, cooking with friends is both extra fun and helpful. It may not be as fun cooking over z Zoom as cooking together in person, but for the sake of safety, give it a try! Plus, an upside of cooking together but separately, is that you can make the dishes to your own personal tastes.
One of my favorite fall dishes is chili — it’s tasty, filling enough to be its own meal, and can be made with an incredible level of flexibility. You can buy a chili spice packet premixed at the store with a recipe on the back, or can work from scratch. The main components of the spice profile of chili are chili powder (surprise), cayenne pepper, cumin, garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper. Of course, feel free to add or exclude spices based on personal taste, but this is what defines the flavor of your chili.
You also get to pick your fillers — beans (any type you prefer), lentils, tomatoes, onions, bell pepper or any other veggies you want — and decide if you want to include meat or make a vegetarian chili.
Then, if you decide to homemake chili, you might as well also make cornbread to go with it. Cornbread is one of the easiest types of bread to make because it’s actually more like the process of baking a cake than baking traditional bread. Just like making chili, there are more and less involved ways of making it.
If you don’t like making it from scratch, which I can tell you from experience isn’t very difficult, then you can just pick up a box mix for it at the store. There’s nothing quite like baked goods served hot right out of the oven.
On that subject — there is an apple based baked good for every person. Again, I would recommend baking with your friends via Zoom, so you can give each other advice during the process. Even better if one of you has made the recipe before. As I was saying though, there are different apple based desserts at differing difficulty levels. The easiest is just the baked apple (which ultimately amounts to baking an apple with some sugar and toppings), but I’d encourage you to look into crisps, crumbles, dumplings and pies.
Or, to stay on that excellent cooking with apples theme, you could always make candy apples or caramel apples. First, in case you didn’t know, there is a difference between candy apples and caramel apples, even though caramel is a type of candy. Candy apples are dipped in a water, sugar, corn syrup and cinnamon mixture that hardens when it cools. Caramel apples are dipped in caramel which still stays soft even after it cools. Either dipped apple type can be made more exciting by adding other toppings as well. Consider decorating your apples with crushed nuts, chocolate chips, broken pretzels, shredded coconut, a favorite breakfast cereal or anything else you want, really. You can also drizzle them with chocolate, icing or a peanut butter sauce. You can really just go wild with creativity when it comes to these snacks. Making them with your friends over zoom also means you can make your own decisions and buy the toppings you like rather than having to compromise. Don’t forget to take a group picture via Zoom, though, regardless of what you make!
Happy fall and happy cooking!
