With sweet potatoes and squashes turning up at the farmer’s market and temperatures cooling enough to stand having the oven on, fall brings all kinds of possibilities back to the kitchen.
“I love to cook, but fall cooking is one of my favorite activities,” Dr. Adrienna Jirik, a gastroenterologist at Cleveland Clinic, tells TODAY.com. There’s just something about autumn that “makes me want to nestle in my kitchen, slow down, take a deep breath, reflect, sip on some hot cider and cook,” she says.
Dr. Monah Bahouth agrees: “Fall is a great time to incorporate fresh fruits, vegetables and legumes into the daily diet,” Bahouth, an assistant professor of neurology at the Johns Hopkins University of Medicine, tells TODAY.com.
Like most of the experts TODAY.com spoke to, Bahouth and Jirik’s food choices are in line with the Mediterranean diet, which puts the focus on fresh produce, lean protein sources, whole grains, olive oil and legumes. And with so many flavorful options now available, fall provides the perfect opportunity to have fun with cozy recipes involving a wide variety of seasonal fruits and veggies.
“Comfort foods are always in order in the fall,” Jirik says. “Think of the entire gamut of soups, stews, roasts and one-sheet-pan meals.”
Doctors love these fall foods:
Hearty seasonal squash
“At this time of year, I love acorn squash — it’s really delicious,” Dr. Shari Lipner, an associate professor of clinical dermatology at the Weill Cornell Medical Center, tells TODAY.com.
She roasts it in the oven with a bit of butter and a drizzle of honey and serves it alongside a lean protein, like chicken or salmon. The squash can take a while to cook (often up to an hour, depending on the recipe), but it’s worth the wait, she says.
For Dr. Elizabeth Comen, a medical oncologist treating breast cancer at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, her love of butternut squash comes with a wave of nostalgia.
“As a little girl, my mother used to bake butternut squash with a tiny…
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