November days are here and it’s foggy in the morning and most of the trees are bare of leaves and the ground is covered with leaves. Plus it’s mostly in the 40’s and 50’s for temperatures outside.

There is a Vermont Country Store near where I live. There is one in Rockingham and one in Weston. It’s a very fun place to visit. I always like to get some Vermont Cheddar Cheese that they cut fresh off of a huge Cabot Extra Sharp Cheese Wheel. Plus it’s fun to browse through their store. The store is filled to the rafters with all kinds of interesting finds.

Cheesecake is always good and Pumpkin Cheesecake this time of year is really a seasonal treat. Especially when you use gingersnap cookies in the crust. Plus make it fancy by using the rosette attachment in a pastry bag to make whipped cream rosettes around the top.

Easy Chili with all the fixings is a fun lunch this time of year.

Corn muffins go so nice with Chili. I like to make the Jiffy Box Corn Muffins and just add a little honey and sour cream. So easy, fast and just right.

I also like the Cape Cod Salad that is in Barefoot Contessa’s Basics Cook Book. So easy to make and is fun to have in the Fall when there are fresh apples from the orchards. I had some Honey Crisp apples from a local orchard that I peeled and chopped and just used organic power greens, chopped up some cooked bacon, organic walnuts from the Food Co-op and blue cheese crumbles. Then I just used Newmans Olive Oil and Vinegar dressing instead of the Dressing recipe in the book. One of my new Fall favorites for a salad.

Then I love to use my Instant Pot Pressure Cooker and found an Instant Pot Cookbook that was for weight loss using the Instant Pot. One recipe that stood out to me was the Protein Bowl. All the recipe called for was to pressure cook 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts in the steamer basket along with some Quinoa and 1/2 cup of water underneath the chicken on high for 12 minutes. Then put the Quinoa in a bowl with some power greens on top and add the dressing to coat, slice up an avocado and an apple and add the shredded chicken, some walnuts and Montery Jack shredded cheese. Yum! The dressing was just the juice of an orange, 1 T apple cider vinegar, garlic, 1 t olive oil, 2 garlic cloves and 1 T Dijon mustard plus salt and pepper.

The Cookbook is called “Lose Weight with Your Instant Pot” by Audrey Johns. And it had 60 easy recipes for weight loss.

There was also a recipe to make a wrap using shredded chicken that there was a recipe for using 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts with 2 garlic cloves, smashed, 2 T canned diced green chilies and a cup of water. You just cook on high for 20 minutes. Quick release and transfer the chicken to a plate and shred, adding 1/4 cup of the liquid to keep it moist.

On the wrap, it had a dressing that was just 1/3 cup of Greek Yogurt, 1/2 t of salt, 1/4 teaspoon Dijon mustard and they used chopped Romaine lettuce.

They used burrito-size whole wheat tortillas and 1/2 tomato sliced and 2 slices of bacon.

All kinds of interesting recipes in that book and I found it at the Walmart.

There was also an easy Spiced Apple Cider that used Honey Crisp apples.

There is definitely frost on the pumpkin now and it’s really chilly in the mornings.