Looking for a good side to pair with this soup? Try my homemade breadsticks, buttery garlic bread, or arugula salad.

Homemade Mini Meatball Soup

This meatball soup is a comforting soup reminiscent of spaghetti and meatballs but in homestyle, sip-able soup form! It's an excellent thing to prepare to warm up with after a long chilly day and it pairs beautifully with salad or bread.

For a meatball vegetable soup it can be modified to reduce the carbs and replace the pasta with more vegetables. There are also options to replace the ground beef with ground turkey or ground chicken, or use other various types of pasta (all these ideas addressed in the variations and questions below).

Just keep in mind if you plan on having extra servings you may want to consider cooking the pasta separately if you are like me and hate soggy pasta (just reduce the broth by 1 cup if doing so).

Happy fall and welcome to sweater weather and soup season!

Red Skin Potato Salad

This is a comfort food classic made with hearty, creamy red potatoes, dotted with the typical celery and pickles, and finished with a rich herby dressing to coat it all. The fresh lemon is a highlight here and the use of both mayonnaise and sour cream keeps it from feeling too heavy.

It's a simple to prepare side dish that keeps well in the fridge for several days and it's an ideal dish to serve on a hot day (trade in those baked potatoes for this!).

You can also adapt it to include other various mix-ins such as cooked bacon or hard boiled eggs (more ideas below), or just keep it simple without an extras. Either way this red potato salad is a summertime must!

Healthy Carrot Soup

Though this gingery carrot soup recipe may seem ideal for spring it's actually an excellent soup to serve any time of year because you can almost always get good quality carrots at the store year round. And they are a staple food most of us keep stocked in the fridge.

This soup has such a delicious inviting flavor between it's sweet carrot goodness, the bright ginger and garlic, a light background spice boost, and the richness of the coconut milk.

It's a vegan soup but can also be adapted to use what you have on hand if you don't intend to make it vegan. Ingredients such as chicken broth, and half and half or heavy cream can be used.

Guests will love it as an appetizer for dinner, or serve it as a main course at lunch with whole grain bread or no knead homemade bread (great for dipping of course), or a grilled cheese sandwich.

Nutritious Green Juice

This green juice recipe is super versatile and is a mindful way to use up produce that is about to spoil so it's not wasted.

You can even make a double batch so you have a juice for the next day without having to clean the juicer again (that's always the only drawback).

When making green juice I usually always like to include the celery but everything else can be switched up.

Pick a leafy green such as kale, spinach or romaine lettuce, then toss in a cucumber or broccoli stalks, add a tart flavor from lime or lemon (to help mask the intensity of the leafy green), give it a flavor boost with ginger or mint, and sweeten it with a sweet juicy apple or green grapes.

It's fun to try all the different varieties and helpful having the option of using up what you have on hand already.

Possible Variations

You can even add your own additions - things like green chard, collard greens, wheatgrass, parsley, grapefruit, or nutrition boosters such as green tea, spurlina, barely grass powder, or chlorella powder.

And try sweetening with other fruits such as pineapple, pear or a navel orange.

This is just a base recipe to get you started but the possibilities are endless!

Slow Cooker Turkey Breast

Here's a simplified version of holiday turkey, no oven required. You just need a decent size slow cooker (6 to 7 quart) and to plan a bit of extra time for that low and slow cooking.

It's a no fuss method that yields a deliciously seasoned, butter infused turkey breast, plus plenty of drippings for turkey gravy to pour atop. It's final result of tender juicy turkey made with less hassle may have you turning to this method year over year.

This is also a great option if your family only likes the white meat of turkey, no need to even start with and waste the dark meat. No turkey thighs here.

Pair this turkey breast with some other simple sides to round out the holiday meal such as buttery slow cooker mashed potatoes, quick sauteed green beans, tender 1-hour dinner rolls, and finish with the easiest 5-ingredient pumpkin pie.

A simplified feast with classic, comforting, homestyle flavor.

Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup

Aren't most things better when they have the addition of cream? This chicken noodle soup is no exception.

It's very similar to the traditional homestyle chicken noodle soup just richer and creamier. And it's perfectly soul warming and satisfying.

This soup is so over-the-top delicious that it's easily worthy of the dinner rotation.

You'll find it's also a versatile soup. You can switch up the pasta, try different vegetables, or use a rotisserie chicken if that's what you've got on hand.

We love it served with beautifully browned, artisanal style fresh bread for dipping and a seasonal side salad.

Chicken Noodle Soup with Corn and Bacon!

Can you add corn to chicken noodle soup? Absolutely and it makes such a delicious soup!

That's just what you get in this soup recipe. It's like chicken noodle soup upgraded with fresh juicy corn, plus we dot it in some bacon and blend in some cream for good measure.

It's also similar to a chowder, and it's adaptable to what you have on hand (as usual see ideas below). For instance you can replace bacon with ham or make this Pennsylvania Dutch style with homemade mini dumplings called rivels in place of noodles (making the soup completely from scratch!).

Pair it with a slice of buttered homemade bread and a simple garden fresh salad with a homemade herby ranch for the most comforting homestyle dinner!

Cozy Chicken Lemon Orzo Soup

Let's just start by saying this is a must try soup! It's a ready favorite and a family favorite.

It's nutritious, full of flavor, easy to prepare, cooks in one pot, and it's the perfect pick me up, feel better soup.

You'll love it on a cold blistery day or even on a summery day with its vibrant lemony goodness.

Serve it with fresh hearty buttered bread or a side salad to finish the meal.

I think you're going to love every last sip of this!

My Favorite Way to Make Puff Pastry Chicken Pot Pie

Most often you'll see chicken pot pie with puff pastry made two ways. Either prepared and baked as a whole "pie" in a single baking dish, or made in individual ramekins or bowls.

Both work but I created this variation because I wanted something easier, a dish that finished with perfectly flakey and non-soggy puff pastry, an option that didn't waste puff pastry scraps (precious!), and something that wasn't so messy.

If you bake in a single dish the puff pastry doesn't cut cleanly, and if you do individual servings it's tedious to work with single bowls and get the puff pastry to stick well. You also may likely find the end result of both said options yields a soggy layer on bottom.

This method works beautifully, and it's so convenient that the filling only needs to cook on the stove top so you can bake the puff pastry and make the filling at the same time.

And honestly who can resist those cute little puff pastry bites? I want to put them on everything and it's hard not to eat half of them before dinner is served.

All around this creamy chicken pot pie with buttery puff pastry makes for the perfect homestyle dinner!

Love a good stuffing recipe? Also try my classic stuffing recipe, crockpot stuffing, and apple rosemary stuffing.

Our Favorite Cornbread Stuffing!

Once you try this recipe you'll likely want to make it over and over again. It's so good in fact it may take the place of your favorite bread-based stuffing.

There's just something about that extra corn flavor here that really makes it shine. And no drying out bread cubes is necessary in this recipe.

Of course, it's perfect for a holiday meal (Cornbread Stuffing is ideal for Thanksgiving!) but it's actually simple enough that it fits well into a weekend meal, paired with a roast chicken and mashed potatoes of course.

It has browned and crisp edges, a soft buttery interior and there's layer after layer of flavor throughout. In other words, it's destined to become the highlight and talk of any dinner meal!