Ten Amazing Meatless Monday Soup Recipes to Welcome the Arrival of Fall

Celebrate the arrival of fall by making one of my favorite Meatless Monday soups!

It's officially the first day of fall, and even though I'm one of those heat-lovers who likes to hang on to summer as long as possible, I do think autumn has the most glorious weather of any season.  I thought it might be fun to do something a little different this week for Meatless Monday, so to celebrate the arrival of fall I'm sharing Ten Amazing Meatless Monday Soup Recipes.  These are my personal favorite meatless soups, and I hope you'll try at least one of them to welcome the new season!

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Recipe for Baked Chicken Stuffed with Pesto and Cheese

If you have any fresh basil left, make pesto and then make this Chicken Stuffed with Pesto and Cheese!

(For Phase One Fridays I highlight Phase One recipes from the past that have been my personal favorites, and this recipe for Baked Chicken Stuffed with Pesto and Cheese is something I've made over and over.  It's also been one of the most popular recipes on the blog for a while now; hope you enjoy if you haven't tried it yet!)

For several weeks now I've been keeping an eye on the basil plants in my garden, hoping to get one more batch of pesto in the freezer before the plants started to freeze.  For the last few days the leaves were starting to look a little brown on the edges, so today I trimmed the plants vigorously and made a big batch of pesto.  Then I made this Chicken Stuffed with Pesto and Cheese!

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Slow Cooker Recipe for Low-Sugar and Gluten-Free Peach Crisp

If you have fresh peaches begging to be used, please make this Slow Cooker Peach Crisp right away!

In Utah, peaches are amazing this time of year, and when my friend Trina brought me some gorgeous peaches recently, I was excited to try the recipe for Slow Cooker Peach Crisp I'd spotted on my friend Karen's blog, 365 Days of Slow Cooking.  Karen is young, gorgeous, and skinny, so she probably doesn't care about the whole low-sugar thing, but I wanted to create a version of peach crisp without much added sugar, and since I was adapting Karen's recipe anyway, I thought I'd substitute almond flour to make a gluten-free version as well.  Desserts are not my specialty, but I was thrilled with how this turned out.  (Well, maybe a little *too* thrilled, since I ate the two servings you see in these photos with in a few minutes after I finished photographing them, and the leftovers didn't last long in the fridge either.)  If you have fresh peaches, you must make this right away!

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Italian Sausage, Zucchini, and Macaroni Soup Recipe

Italian Sausage, Zucchini, and Macaroni Soup Recipe is a favorite soup I've made for many years!

(Updated with better photos and step-by-step instructions, September 2013.) This Italian Sausage, Zucchini, and Macaroni Soup is favorite soup that I first made in 2005, and since then I've made it many times for family get-togethers, or my annual New Year's Day soup party.   It's perfect for this time of year when the nights are getting cooler, but there's still zucchini from the garden to be used.  If it's starting to get a little cold where you are and you happen to have some zucchini, I highly recommend this as a good soup to help you transition to the new season.  In fact, this soup is worth making even if you have to buy zucchini, and I wouldn't be surprised if this soup becomes a favorite in your family as well!

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Recipe for Roasted Balsamic Zucchini and Mushrooms with Feta and Thyme

This recipe for Roasted Balsamic Zucchini and Mushrooms with Feta and Thyme made history last week when my brother-in-law had a second helping of vegetables!

Last week I had some of my sister Pam's family over for dinner, and for a side dish I made this Roasted Balsamic Zucchini and Mushrooms with Feta and Thyme.  When I worked on the recipe a few weeks ago and took these photos for the blog, I was using giant zucchini with the big seeds scraped out and cut into strips.  When I made it again last week, I didn't have any big zucchini and had to (gasp!) buy zucchini at the store.  Both versions were really tasty, but the most amazing thing about this recipe is that my brother-in-law Kelly made family history by asking for a second helping of vegetables!  Kelly is well known for not liking many veggies, so I think that's a pretty good recommendation for this recipe. 

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Recipe for Easy Roasted Tomatoes and Shrimp with Feta, Oregano, and Fennel

Make this easy recipe for Roasted Tomatoes and Shrimp while you can still get fresh garden tomatoes!

(For Phase One Fridays I highlight Phase One recipes from the past that have been my personal favorites, and this Easy Roasted Tomatoes and Shrimp with Feta, Oregano, and Fennel is a perfect summer-into-fall dinner idea.)

The recipes I find myself making over and over again are the ones with super-easy preparation methods but plenty of complex flavors, and this recipe for Roasted Tomatoes and Shrimp with Feta, Oregano, and Fennel definitely falls into that category.  I admit, it was the lovely garden tomatoes that I have in abundance right now that pushed me into making this, but because roasting intensifies the flavor of the tomatoes, I think you could make this with good quality store-bought tomatoes as well. 

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Pasta Salad Recipe with Italian Sausage, Zucchini, Red Pepper, and Olives

This Pasta Salad with Italian Sausage, Zucchini, Red Pepper, and Olives is one of my favorites to make for family parties!

Have you ever made a mistake that turned out to have such a happy result that you didn't mind it at all?  That's how I felt last Saturday after I started to make this Pasta Salad with Italian Sausage, Zucchini, Red Pepper, and Olives to take to a family party in honor of my niece Sophie's baptism.  I had just started cooking the zucchini and had the sausage browning, when I realized I needed to call to get directions to the celebration.  Then my niece's husband gently told me that the baptism was *next* Saturday.  Okay, so I felt a bit foolish, but since this recipe had been in need of new photos for the longest time I now had a free day and plenty of time to take photos.  And I was able to give most of the salad to my sister Pam, who wasn't feeling great that day, so she didn't have to make dinner for her family!  This salad is one that has been a favorite in my family for years; hope you enjoy!

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