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Fall is in the air in Northern Michigan. We had our first sprinkling of snow on Oct 17th. It’s going to warm back up a bit for a week or two and you can be sure that I am going to embrace every single moment left of this fall. There are so many great things about fall. It’s one of my favorite seasons, but sadly, seems to go by really, really fast. Our family has five ways to enjoy fall that have become something of a tradition.

FIVE WAYS TO ENJOY FALL

1. Leaf Peeping: Taking a drive to see all the great colors. There are a couple spots that have fantastic outlooks if you don’t mind a short hike to the overlook sites. Otherwise, just about any road in northern Michigan leads us by gorgeous colors. I prefer back roads so that we can take our time driving and stopping often to take photos.

2. Stocking up on Progresso Soup: You know fall is here when we stock up on our favorite Progresso soups at Walmart. Hands down our favorite is Progresso Vegetable Classics Tomato Basil. I serve the tomato basil with grilled cheese dippers. Yes, even as adults, we like dipping our grilled cheese in our tomato soup. I like using munster cheese and whole grain dijon mustard on our grilled cheese sandwiches. The munster melts really well and the mustard gives it a bit of a kick.  Tomato basil soup and grilled cheese is our feel good food when we want something comforting. Walmart always has a large selection of Progresso soup at a great price so it’s easy to stock our pantry with all our favorites.

By the way, Progresso soups are a great way to add vegetables to your daily intake. For example, the Progresso Vegetable Classics Tomato Basil soup has a 1/2 cup of vegetables per serving.

FIVE WAYS TO ENJOY PROGRESSO SOUP

During the fall and winter we’ll have soup as a side or the main meal during lunch or dinner depending on our mood. If it’s a frigid day outside we might have soup for both meals. I know that soup is one way we warm up after our fall hikes and outdoor winter activities. Plus, Progresso makes it so easy to make a meal in 20 minutes or less using a few cooking hacks and shortcuts.

1. We all love the Tomato Basil variety and I easily make this into a heartier meal. Simply add pre-cooked elbow noodles or pre-cooked rice to the soup during the cooking process. Then serve with everyone’s favorite, grilled cheese dippers, or a turkey ruben sandwich.
2. The guys really enjoy the Progresso Rich & Hearty Steak & Vegetables soup. Eating soup out of a regular bowl is so boring. Purchase individual bread bowls at the store and use that to serve up this hearty soup.
3. When we aren’t in the mood for bread bowls I bake up (well, by bake I mean I pop it into the microwave) a medium sized potato for each person and make a loaded baked potato using the soup as the topping. Drain off some of the soup broth, pour over the potato that has been cut open and top with cheese and sour cream.
4. The Progresso Rich & Hearty Slow Cooked Vegetable Beef is great served a la stroganoff-ish style. Simply add 3-4 ounces of softened cream cheese to the soup while it’s heating up and then a 1/8 cup sour cream when it’s done, mix well, and serve over cooked egg noodles. You can also use the Progresso Rich & Hearty Steak Burger & Country Vegetables for this shortcut recipe.
5. Last, but definitely not least, the family enjoys individual chicken pot pies. Take a package of refrigerator biscuits and press each biscuit into a muffin  tin cup, pressing the biscuit firmly on the bottom and up the sides. Make sure you have 1/2″-3/4″ extra above the rim of the muffin tin. Repeat with each biscuit, then fill the biscuit cup 3/4 full with soup, drain off a good portion of the soup broth, pull dough edges towards center and pinch together.  Bake at 375 degrees for approximately 22 minutes, but remember that cooking times can vary so start watching the biscuits around 18 minutes and remove them once they are a golden brown. Let cool for 1-2 minutes and serve. You can thicken up the leftover broth and make a gravy to serve over the pot pie.

A delicious meal doesn’t need to take hours in the kitchen. Let Progresso soups help you find the shortcuts to tasty meals the entire family will enjoy so you have more time to enjoy the beautiful fall weather.

 

3. Pumpkin Patch: Who can resist the pull of a pumpkin patch in the fall? All those orange orbs just waiting to be taken home and decorated. Buying and decorating pumpkins is a time honored tradition. The great thing is that we have moved way beyond the triangle eyes and rectangle mouth. Thanks to the digital world and Pinterest there are 100’s of ideas on different ways to decorate fall pumpkins that will impress all the trick or treaters that stop by.

4. Apples, Apple Cider, Apple Donuts: Yes, all three is a rite of fall passage. All year long we wait for fall to have a taste of apple cider and apple donuts. We are fortunate that we have an antique apple orchard about 90 minutes away that has over 250 varieties of apples. It’s fun to go and try new ones each year. They also have fresh-pressed apple cider so it’s a win-win.

5. Halloween Prep: Yep, you cannot love fall as much as we do and not love Halloween. Planning costumes, trick or treat treats, and decorating is all part of the fall tradition. Even BB gets in on our fall fun. When we buy costumes we buy one for him as well. This year I think he is going to go as a Star Wars character, I just have to decide which one.

How do you celebrate fall?

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of General Mills. The opinions and text are all mine.