Recipe: Butternut Squash Soup with Ginger

I noticed that lately I haven't been craving my fresh veggies like I normally do. Ever since starting a new health and fitness journey back in April, I have a garden salad of some sort almost everyday. And I crave it! I believe that part of getting all of the toxins out of your body is that you start to crave the right kinds of foods rather than the junky ones. So maybe part of the reason I have not been craving my healthier foods is that I have allowed some of the junk to slowly slip back into my diet. I have decided to take control of this, though, and I am starting fresh on the 21 Day Fix again on Monday.

In the meantime, I thought about how to come up with more creative ways to get my veggies into my system without burning myself out on salads. Then it hit me- the weather has changed dramatically over the last few weeks. If you look outside, it definitely feels like fall! Grey skies, cooler breeze, rain here and there. I realized I haven't roasted veggies in a long time (it makes my house too hot in the summer and we don't have A/C) and I also haven't embraced the fall veggies available at the store!

I found a recipe for Butternut Squash Soup with Ginger on the Beachbody Blog. I will post the link to it here but I will also lay it all out for you. If you were to buy pre-peeled and cut butternut squash, this recipe would be easy peasy to bust out on a weeknight! I am frugal and didn't want to spend the $3.99/lb. on the precut stuff, so I bought a huge, whole butternut squash for $0.98/lb. and just did all of the dirty work myself. It really didn't take that long, but my hands smelled like squash afterwards!

The soup turned out delicious!! Even my husband liked it, and he's not a big soup fan. It was like a big bowl of warm comfort food and I was so thankful to have run across the recipe and I'm glad I actually made it! It filled me up with a full serving of my veggies and I have been craving it since I made it!

PS- I'll tell you a secret! My husband doesn't typically like curry, either. And this soup has yellow curry in it! It's so good, I am almost feeling bold enough to serve it to my kids! They have gotten extremely picky lately. It's not that I won't serve them something new. It's really just that sometimes my pride cannot take my son's "ew this is the grossest thing I've ever eaten!" face anymore!

Anyways, enough talk. Here is the recipe and a few pics while I was making it!

BUTTERNUT SQUASH SOUP WITH GINGER

Total Time: 36 min.
Prep Time: 10 min.
Cooking Time: 25 min.
Yield: 12 servings, 1 cup each

This butternut squash soup recipe gets maximum flavor from ginger. curry, and coconut milk. Freeze individual portions for quick meals anytime.

Ingredients:
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 thin slice fresh ginger, peeled, grated
10 cups cubed butternut squash (about 3½ lbs.)
1 tsp. sea salt
2 tsp. yellow curry powder
6 cups low-sodium organic vegetable broth
1 cup coconut milk

Preparation:
1. Heat oil in large saucepan over medium heat.
2. Add onion, garlic, and ginger; cook, stirring frequently, for 3 to 5 minutes, or until soft and fragrant.
3. Add squash, salt, and curry powder; cook, stirring frequently, for 3 minutes.
4. Add broth. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low; cook, stirring occasionally, for 10 to 15 minutes, or until squash is soft.
5. Place soup in a blender or food processor, in small batches; cover with lid and kitchen towel. Blend until smooth.
6. Place blended soup back into saucepan. Add coconut milk; cook, over medium heat, for 2 to 3 minutes, or until heated through.

Tip: Blend small batches of hot liquids in blender or food processor since they expand during the blending process, therefore increasing the chance of overflowing.

21 Day Fix Counts: 1 green, 1 blue, 1 tsp.

* A few alterations I made: I didn't have quite enough vegetable broth (and we are not vegetarians in this house!) so I did water with "better than bullion" for most of the broth base. I am also lucky enough to have an immersion blender so I didn't have to take this soup out of the pot to blend it! 

* I also updated the container counts. The ones listed on the blog seemed off to me. So I looked over one of the comments and I am basing my containers off of that instead. It just made more sense, and the 21 Day Fix portion control system is not meant to be rocket science (aka too complicated!) 

If you end up making this soup, I would love to hear what you think of it! Message me or comment below! 

I started with a pot that was too small. I didn't really think about how much soup this would end up being!

About halfway into eating it, I realized maybe I should take a picture of the finished product ;)

Here are most of the ingredients I used (minus the actual squash and onion)

After 2 bowls eaten, and one packed up for my husband to take to work, this is how much was leftover! I think I might need to freeze some of the extra!! 

Madi is 15 months old now!

She is a walking, running, climbing, crazy and spontaneous girl! She loves to be involved in everything that is going on around her, and her spunk is incredibly loving and contagious. 

Here are the words she uses:

Mama

Mom (Mam)

Dada

Dog (Da)

Milk (Muh)

Water (Wah)

Book (Boo)

Bath (Ba)

Eat (Eeee!)

Shoes (Shhh)

Diaper (Die)

Potty (Kwah-ti)

Outside (Ow)

Sometimes she prompts these words on her own, and other times her go-to word is “Mam!!” and then she points to what she wants, I will say it, and she repeats it back to me. Her non-verbal communication is very good!! 

Her favorite foods are toast, bananas, strawberries, meatloaf, sandwiches, grapes, salad (with minimal dressing), tomatoes, rice, mac n cheese, hamburgers, pasta with any kind of sauce, almost any fruits. This girl loves to eat! She still doesn’t drink a whole lot of milk but she does like to drink it sometimes and she also loves to drink water. She can usually drink pretty well from a regular cup but she enjoys walking and spilling too much so she only gets one in her high chair. She is also already starting to be good with her fork and spoon which is also fun for her. 

The potty has come out of storage, but more as a way to satisfy her curiosity and get used to being around it, she is not communicating well enough to start any real potty training and that is fine because it is still early! She loves to pull her diaper off and sit on it, and when she goes with Mommy into the bathroom she likes to help by getting out the toilet paper ;) 

She is finally starting to enjoy books, and can *almost* sit through an entire Sandra Boynton book before slamming it closed or getting up to do something else! She loves simple books with one word per page and will ask to read those ones over and over again. She also like to color on paper, pull stickers off paper, and play outside in the dirt. She got a sandbox for her first birthday and we are getting ready to finally put some sand in it for her to play in (with a June birthday it made more sense to use it as a mini pool when we first got it!) Inside, she loves to play with duplo and mega-blocks, her baby doll, toy phone, a ride on motorcycle, and chunky puzzles.

Madi sleeps pretty darn well and we have no real complaints in this area. She goes to bed around 6:30/7pm and gets up between 6:30-7:30am. She often wakes up early (around 4-5am) but puts herself back to sleep without assistance. She recently dropped to one nap a day, and as long as she falls asleep after 10am for her nap she will typically nap 2.5-3 hours. She loves her crib! She moves around over the place and is never in the same position when we check on her. 

We love our little girl and we are so thankful that she is a part of our family! 

Meal Plan!

I have been doing a new fitness routine called ChaLEAN Extreme. It's mostly about lifting free weights in the comfort of your living room.

I'll be honest, it's not my favorite program. I am such a cardio junkie!! But I can definitely tell it is working muscles that I have never worked before! And I am getting stronger for sure. I can now do push ups on my toes as opposed to only on my knees! I can do about 4 regular pushups on my toes now before dropping to my knees. This was a goal of mine from back in April when I first started my new health and fitness Journey and I am so glad that I have met that goal!

The last few weeks I have been feeling my nutrition going down the drain.... I was trying to follow the nutrition guide from ChaLEAN Extreme. But it's basically a calorie counting program, with an emphasis on low fat or low carb at various phases in the program (burn phase, push phase, and lean phase) After doing the 21 Day Fix nutrition plan for so long, I had a hard time going back to calorie counting! So I decided to use my new cookbook Fixate and create a 21 Day Fix meal plan for this week to use with my ChaLEAN Extreme fitness plan!

Here is my meal plan for this week.

One part of this plan that you don't see is my "activities" section on this spreadsheet. One of the things I HAVE to do when meal planning is consult my calendar and see what I have going on during the week. That way I can take into account the days where we are leaving the house early so I won't have time to cook oatmeal or pancakes for breakfast. Or we will be grocery shopping one day which might mean less time available to cook dinner than normal. I have found this to be crucial in my meal planning so that I am more likely to stick to the plan!

Tonight I will be making a new recipe for tomato sauce, out of my Fixate cookbook. I hope to take some pics and share the recipe with you later this week! This tomato sauce is the basis for several of my recipes that I plan to cook this week, and it takes about 90 minutes to make so Sunday is a good day to prep for it! 

A few Crazy Days, and Some Delicious Pancakes!

We have been through quite the whirlwind of events the last few days!

On Sunday, my car was broken into. Well, I don't know if you can say "broken into," because I left it unlocked in my driveway. It was stupid, I know. Totally my fault. But it was still so violating to see that my car door was open the next morning, my bags were emptied and all over the car, and my garage door opener was gone. Boo-urns. Police report filed, and garage door motor unplugged until we can get it reprogrammed.

Then I took my son back-to-school shopping. I thought that would be a nice way for us to bond and get our minds off of the car thing. Yeah, I didn't think about the fact that I would become an emotional wreck as I was buying my son size 6 clothes (when did that happen?!?!) and he's telling me what is cool or uncool, and we are picking out folders and gluesticks and crayons, and looking at backpacks and lunch boxes. My baby is starting full time kindergarten in a month. What the heck???

On Monday, my one year old daughter had a cardiac catheterization scheduled in Seattle. We had to be at the hospital at 6:45am and planned on being there most of the day! She has a PDA (see this link here for a simple explanation) and it needed to be closed up. This was probably one of the scariest times of my life (aside from when my son spent his first 10 days of life in the NICU for the same condition!) and I think in the end we all handled it ok, but my own heart is still not fully recovered! And I think I may have a few extra grey hairs on my head today!

My mom left to go back to her home in Oregon this afternoon, so the kids and I were finally home alone again in the evening, as usual. I decided I felt like making pancakes for dinner. I got this new cookbook the other day and I love it!! It goes along with the 21 Day Fix nutrition guide and it is full of great go-to recipes like tomato sauce, mac and cheese, salad dressings, etc. And they are all made from whole, healthy ingredients with the container amounts listed for each portion.

So here is the recipe for the yummy pancakes I made!

Banana Oat Pancakes (From the cookbook Fixate)

• 1 c. unsweetened almond milk
• 2 large eggs
• 1 large ripe banana
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• 2 c. old fashioned oats
• dash salt

Put all ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth. Heat 1/2 tsp. coconut oil in a skillet over medium to medium-low heat, pour 1/4 cup batter into skillet per pancake. Cook 2-3 minutes on one side (until bubbles form on edges of pancake) and flip to cook another 1-2 minutes on the other side. 

Makes approx. 8 pancakes. 
Serving size is 2 pancakes.
Container equivalents for 1 serving: 1 yellow, 1/2 purple.

*You can ensure that these are totally gluten free by getting certified gluten free oats and baking powder. 





They were a hit with both of my kids! We like to eat our pancakes with some peanut butter and a little bit of maple syrup. Yum!

Body Image and its Importance in Parenthood

The topic of body image has been coming up for me a lot lately. Maybe it is because my daughter is one now, and she watches me more carefully than she used to. Maybe because my son is 5 and asks so many questions, and he can be so observant, so blunt about certain things.

When I first started exercising daily and paying attention to the food going into my mouth, I started to worry that I would be setting a bad example for my kids. I didn't want them to see me questioning my imperfections, worrying about my body, picking at my food like a bird or squeezing my love handles while frowning into the mirror.

Then as I got deeper into my Journey, I realized that I can use this opportunity to set a good example for my kids- eating food that makes me feel good and helps me function my best. I'm exercising because it is good for my heart, lungs, muscles, brain, everything.

I can also use it as an opportunity to demonstrate where "junk food" belongs in our lives. I try to view everything as ok in moderation at some point, but the things that make our bodies strong and feel the best are the things we should be eating every single day. We don't buy candy, soda, etc. on our weekly grocery shopping trip, but we might have some on occasion, in small amounts, at celebrations and such. We load our refrigerator with fresh fruits, veggies, meat, eggs, and cheese. I stopped buying granola bars and fruit snacks to keep where my son can reach them and instead he has taken to grabbing things like fruit, applesauce, nuts, cheese, etc. (The granola bars and fruit snacks still make their way into my purse for those moments at the grocery store or the doctor's office where I just need them to be quiet, so no judgement LOL)

Most importantly I have used this as an opportunity to "check" myself before I look into the mirror. How would it look to someone else whenever I am looking into the mirror. Am I smiling? Am I frowning? Am I taking inventory of every stretch mark, every buldge, every grey hair, every pimple? Or am I using my mirror to simply assessing my outfit for the day, making sure that I don't have baby snot on my shoulder, and then I'm out the door?

Currently I have a big sign on my mirror that says, "You Are Beautiful and Strong!" And my sweet husband wrote "Yup!" underneath it. I am so thankful to have a supportive spouse, one who loves me no matter what I look like. One who supports me on my journey to better health, but never pushes me to do it for vanity reasons.

I love my body. It has done amazing things. It continues to do amazing things. I am thankful for what I have been given and I will take care of it for as long as I live. I choose to exercise and eat clean because I LOVE my body and it deserves the very best. I hope that I can relay the same message to my children as they grow up.

Helping People

Do you read books or listen to podcasts for personal development? This is something I have learned to make time for each day. 15-20 minutes is all that I need into order to fill myself with positive energy that I can pass on to the people I am around that day. 

On Monday mornings, I have the opportunity to listen to a National Wake-Up call from Beachbody. And if I can’t make the 8am call, I can always call in later to listen or I can download the podcast. I love to use these as a form of personal development because they always have someone inspirational speaking- an underdog, or an everyday person like you or me who worked hard to get from point A to point B. 

I also love listening to these calls because it reminds me of what in incredible company Beachbody is. You hear about people becoming financially successful for sure. But more often the reoccurring theme that I hear over and over again is “helping people.” Helping people achieve their health and fitness goals, helping people stay motivated, helping people achieve financial freedom by becoming a coach. 

Since becoming a Beachbody coach I have discovered that my job is not so much to sell you products. I am in the people business. I can help you find the products that you want or the product that is best designed to fit your needs. But at the end of it all, my job is to help you, to work with you, to talk to you about your health and fitness goals, to listen and learn about you so that I can help you make the dream a reality. 

You don’t actually have to have a “beach body” to do this job. You just have to love what these programs can provide for personally, and see what potential the have to help others. And you have to have a desire to share it with everyone you know. And if you have seen results, I can almost guarantee that you will want to share with others. If you found something that worked, why wouldn’t you want other people to know about it? 

If you are interested in learning more about what I have been doing as a coach, please feel free to PM me. Or even if you are just interested in learning more about a Beachbody program. I can help you find the perfect fit for you and get you started on your own Journey to meet your personal goals. Let’s do it! 

Recipe: Easy Crock Pot Chicken and Mexican Fried Rice

It is pretty much summer weather here in Washington state. When you live in the Pacific Northwest, often times your house does not have A/C. I mean, we seriously would only NEED to use it about 2-3 months out of the year, tops. It's actually a rarity that is has been above 80 these past few days, considering it's only mid-June. So a lot of us just make do without!

The only times I  get seriously upset about not having any A/C (other than when it's time to go to bed and my room is still too hot) is when it is time to cook dinner. I don't want to eat salads and sandwiches until September, but I seriously do not want to turn on my oven when it's 85 degrees in my house. 

So today I thought I might use the crock pot and see if that helped. I threw together one of my all-time versatile favorites. I hope you like it!

Shown in this picture: 1 yellow container of Mexican Fried Rice, one red container of Easy Crock Pot Chicken, 1 blue container split in half between cheese and avocado. I also added 1/2 purple to my tally sheet tonight to account for the salsa/tomato sauce in both recipes. 

Easy Crock Pot Chicken

2-3 lbs. chicken (I use breasts because it is what I always have on hand, but it turns out well with thighs too)

2 cups salsa

2 Tbsp. taco seasoning (I blend my own so I can leave out the salt and other garbage! But a taco seasoning packet would work too)

Optional:

1 can black beans

1 can corn

(if you add these ingredients, you may or may not want to add more salsa, but you really can't go wrong either way!)

Put all ingredients into slow cooker and cook on low for 6-8 hours. When chicken is cooked all the way through, pull apart using two forks and stir to allow chicken to absorb the salsa/taco seasoning juices. 

Various Ways to Serve:

• My favorite way to serve this chicken is with my Mexican Fried Rice (see recipe below) in a bowl with a little cheese, avocado, and/or sour cream. 
• My husband likes to just dip into it with chips.
• My son likes to put it on nachos with cheese. 
• It also makes a good (but somewhat messy) burrito filling. 
• Sometimes we use the leftovers to make quesadillas. 
• I will also use the leftovers to make a "taco salad."
• My husband has even thrown it into his scrambled eggs before!

You get the idea- it's very versatile!! 

Mexican Fried Rice

3 Tbsp. oil

1 cup rice

1 diced onion

1 tsp. granulated garlic

salt/pepper

1 tsp. ground cumin

1/2 cup tomato sauce

2 cups chicken broth

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add rice. Cook and stir constantly until rice is puffed and golden. Sprinkle with garlic, salt, pepper, cumin. Add onion and cook for 2 minutes until onion is tender, but do not overcook the rice. Stir in chicken broth and tomato sauce. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer on medium-low heat for 20-25 minutes or until all liquid is absorbed. Fluff with fork. 

So I am not gonna lie- I always use long grain white rice with this recipe. Technically it is not 21 Day Fix approved, but I have tried to use this recipe with brown rice before and I just cannot figure out what I need to tweak in order to get it right. If you find success in re-creating this dish using brown rice, PLEASE share with me your secrets!!