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Seasonal Butternut Squash Soup
Hey hey diva friends!
Just because I'm currently on a hiatus from winter squash, doesn't mean YOU should suffer. I LOVE the flavor of butternut squash! So sweet and savory at the same time!
This soup is so tasty and nutritious. A good soup does wonders for the body and soul. Soups offer a certain comfort that other foods lack. They’re also a vehicle for nutrient dense ingredients!
Butternut squash is an excellent source of vitamin A and one of the healthiest starches you can get. It’s got a gentle sweetness to it which pairs well with a bold curry flavors and embraces the sweetness of apple. Apple and butternut squash naturally compliment each other. They’re harvested at the same time of year, they’re both high in fiber. When Fall comes around this is one of the first soups I whip up. It’s become a staple in my house and I hope you’ll enjoy it just as much.
Ingredients
- 1 Tablespoon olive oil or coconut oil
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 1 Tablespoon curry powder
- 1 lb butternut squash, cut into cubes
- 3 granny smith apples, cut into cubes
- 1 litre homemade chicken stock
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 1 tsp thyme
Directions
- Heat oil in a large pot, add onions and garlic and simmer until golden. Add curry powder, salt, butternut squash and apple chunks and cover with chicken stock. Allow to simmer for about 30 minutes until butternut squash is soft. Use an immersion blender or add to your blender in batches to create a smooth creamy consistency, enjoy!
- Add all ingredients to your blender and process until super smooth.
If you’re seriously interested in getting healthy, restoring your digestion and boosting your energy then check out my new comprehensive program Get Gutsy With Me.In the program you get a ton of delicious satisfying recipes as well as strategies that will help rebuild your intestinal flora, plus support, fun, and coaching from me!
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What's your favorite soup recipe or fall favorite? Comment below!
Bye for now!
Soup your way to a healthier gut!
Hey hey Diva friends! Let's talk about soup and gut health....sounds good right? What is easier than indulging in some delicious soup in this cold weather?
Soup certainly doesn’t sound like any special life changing superfood. It’s soup, you’ve eaten it all your life. Yet soup has massive potential that often gets hidden behind nasty preservatives and less than ideal flavoring agents. The true beauty and nourishment happens with whole food ingredients and high quality homemade bone broth.
This is where the magic happens.
A daily soup made from local, seasonal ingredients and high-quality broth is better than any superfood or supplement out there. It’s a wholesome way to nourish your skin, immune system, joints, digestion and gut health.
Homemade bone broth is rich in natural gelatin which is anti-aging and great for rebuilding damaged intestinal lining. Making bone broth from scratch is as easy as throwing your leftover chicken carcass in a large pot of water and letting it simmer for 24 hours. This gets all the good stuff out of the bones and into the liquid.
Patrick makes an amazing broth with a few simple ingredients:
- chicken carcass
- onion
- carrots
- celery
- poultry spices ( rosemary/sage/thyme)
- salt
- Place all ingredients in the crockpot, fill it up with water (purified!) and let it simmer for 24-48 hours. Use this as the broth base for any soup recipe, or simply enjoy a warm cup like coffee. 1-2x/day.
Note* let your broth cool after you have strained it (not TOO long as bacteria will grow quickly) and scoop off the fat layer that settles on top. The more fat the more healthy collagen is in your broth! Keep frozen or in the fridge for up to 5 days. If my broth is in the fridge 5-6 days or longer I simply make sure to boil it again before drinking.
Go to your local farmer’s market and get the freshest seasonal produce you can find. In the summer you may enjoy fresh garlic, beets and carrot in a homemade stock and blending with fresh dill. Served cold on a hot day with a drizzle of plain yogurt, this soup is refreshingly tangy and packed with nutrients.
In the Fall and Winter, soups made with root vegetables and hearty herbs like sage and rosemary are ideal. It’s all about sourcing local, pesticide-free vegetables for the most nutrient dense soups. Nothing you can buy from the store compares to what you can make at home with relatively little effort.
The flavor base of every good soup should be sauteed onions, garlic and herbs. This is what all those flavor packs are trying to emulate. It doesn’t take long to cut up an onion and throw it in a hot pan with some olive oil, but it makes all the difference.
Add all ingredients to your blender and process until super smooth. Enjoy!!
If you’re seriously interested in getting healthy, restoring your digestion and boosting your energy then check out my new comprehensive program Get Gutsy With Me launching January 15th, 2018!
In the program you get a ton of delicious satisfying recipes as well as strategies that will help rebuild your intestinal flora.
Not sure you're ready for all that?! Join me on my Facebook page Stop Dieting and Live your Life! where I’ll be sharing more information, tips and recipes to help you live a happier, healthier life. PLUS you'll receive free access to my Holiday Survival Guide along with extra recipes and support to navigate this holiday season with ease :)
Share YOUR favorite soup below!
bye for now!
Eating organic for under $15/day
Hey Hey there Diva friends! I'm SUPER excited to bring this blog post to you today. As someone who used to eat the S.A.D. (The aptly named Standard American diet), I too once though that healthy food must be more expensive.
Stated simply, eating whole food, natural, organic, unprocessed foods is NOT more expensive and doesn't have to be. When we originally began our pantry transformation our first step was to take all the wheat filled gluten foods we normally ate and replace them with gluten free processed foods that mimicked the familiar treats. In that instance YES we would spend more money if we continued to purchase gluten free oreos instead of regular oreos. The bills would also remain high as long as I continued to buy a lot of junky snacks, chips, ice cream in ADDITION to the healthier foods on the list....
What I noticed as we progressed in our thinking and continued to tweak our diets however, was that if you really focus on eliminating processed foods (gluten free and all) it is highly probable that you with either break even or SAVE when changing your diets. The KEY is to focus on real foods. The bulk of my grocery cart is almost always from the produce section (fruits, veggies, herbs...) with a little meat (grass-fed organic) and a few canned/boxed/bagged items here and there like flax seed, non-dairy milk, and canned tomatoes or beans.
As I became more aware, it's become a habit for me to listen for the persons total in front of me at the check out in curiosity. What I have discovered is that people who use coupons, shop the sales, and stock up on chips, canned goods, frozen goods, cheap bread, snack items and soda, almost always pay over $200 for their cart. When I check out my total ranges somewhere from $130-200 for the week depending on how thorough my list was ( aka if I have to go back later in the week), if I included any splurge/treat items, and if we needed any household items that week (those always add up).
It's very frustrating to me when people say they cannot afford to be healthy and eat clean foods. Fruit and vegetables are some of the most inexpensive things at the grocery store! Even if you do something "expensive" like juicing or blending your veggies which uses quite a few at a time, it's still way more affordable than going to out to eat for most of your meals or grabbing that daily coffee habit. Not to mention you are substituting incredible nutrition for harmful toxicity that can shorten your lifespan at worst and at best make the life you have less enjoyable.
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To illustrate this point, I created an example meal plan, went to Krogers new Click List feature, input the items needed, calculated the serving size portion you would need per meal, and added up the total for one person in a day. I made sure the ingredients I chose were the ones I would personally use - organic, grass-fed when applicable etc...
With my ONE example ( which included a few more "expensive" items like juicing, Shakeology, and grass-fed beef) I found you could eat high quality, nutrient dense foods that will reverse disease and nourish your body for under $15 a day!
Here's the menu:
Breakfast:
- 2 pasture raised eggs = .81c
- Homemade green juice ( 1/2 bunch organic kale + 1 honey crisp organic apple + 1 organic lemon ) = $1.87
- Chia Seed Pudding ( 1 can full fat coconut milk from a can + 1/4 cup grand chia seeds + 2TBS honey) = .95...estimated over 6 servings
Breakfast TOTAL: $3.63
Snack:*
Many people balk at the concept of a $4.00 superfoods shake when I talk about incorporating Shakeology into their day. But when it includes superfoods from around the world, high quality adaptogens to help the body deal with stress, probiotics and digestive enzymes to help your gut health, not to mention the help it provides in curbing your cravings, I'd say it's worth it. Just replace the sodas or Starbucks with this instead.
*Replace this with some veggies, fruit, or a salad and while you won't get the nutritional variety, you will still spend the same or less and be getting quality foods in your day.
Lunch:
- Microwaveable Sweet Potato = $1.29
- Applegate organic, grass-fed hotdog = .75
- Whole bag of frozen veggies like peas ($10/10) ... may add some spices and/or grass-fed butter
Lunch Total: $3.04
Snack:
Organic honeycrip apple = .62c
1TBS peanut butter = .13c
Snack Total: $.75
Dinner:
Betty Crocker Crockpot Chili = $3.47 when having 4 servings
Dinner Total: $3.47
Total for the day $14.89
Of course your days will fluctuate, but this is approximately 1625 calories for $15.
Conversely you could always choose to have a day like this:
- Breakfast: McDonald's bacon egg an cheese biscuit (450 cal)
- Lunch: Subway 6 inch tuna sandwich ( 480 cal)
- Dinner: Chipotle burrito bowl with chicken, white rice, black beans ,mild salsa, cheese, guac and lettuce (890 cal)
For a grand total of: $13.94 and 1820 calories. This is all assuming of course that no beverages, chips, snacks, or extras were consumed.
You only have one body to live in.
Studies have shown that your gut health is directly correlated to your brain health. This means if you suffer from depression, anxiety, moodiness, or if you are prone to demential, Alzheimer's and brain fog in your family...these are things that can be prevented, and even reversed by the health of your gut. Processed foods not only provide lackluster nutritional value at best, but can cause inflammation to the gut as well as hindering the absorption of any nutrients you are actually consuming.
You won't be perfect over night. There is a learning curve. But the extra time and effort is ALWAYS worth it. Spending a few extra minutes looking at labels, making a meal plan, and cooking up some fresh veggies may give you an extra 15 YEARS in health, longevity, and LIFE.
I don't know about you, but I want the last 20 years of my life to be living not dying.
Change the mind, change the body.
Change the body, change the mind.
What are YOUR cost saving tips? I know there are many of you who are more budget conscious, and better at looking for cost saving tips that I am! I'd love to hear your tips below!!
To your health,
5 meals in 10 minutes (or less!)
Hey hey Diva friends!!!
The biggest stumbling block to having success in your healthy lifestyle is mentality. If you don't DECIDE that it's non-negotiable then you will compromise at some point. For example when you get busy, if health isn't your #1 priority then you will grab that pop tart (hey now, why is that in your pantry in the first place?) instead of COMMITTING to finding fast and easy ways to get good nutrition in and stocking THOSE types of things in your pantry....
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I know I know, thinking it through and planning it out still takes time....so LUCKILY :) I like fast and easy too and I've compiled a little recipe roundup FOR you based on my own meals so you can save time and enjoy these recipes perfect for any busy lifestyle!
Meal #1 Fajitato
What you need:
- Microwavable sweet potato ( I get mine at Kroger and stock up!)
- Mixed veggies ( leftovers or prepped over the weekend - this picture was a stir fry blend from Whole Foods with peppers and red onion, but you can always make your own over the weekend)
- Apple Gate (or other quality brand) grass-fed hot dogs
- Grass-fed butter
What to do:
- Place your microwave sweet potato in the microwave and cook per instructions ( mine takes 7 minutes)
- Pull out a small, non stick skillet and melt 1/4 TBS grass-fed butter.
- While the butter is melting and the pan is heating chop up 2 hot dogs
- Dump the hot dogs and as many veggies as you want in the pan and heat or sear until warmed up
- When the potato is done, cut it open and pour the contents of the pan on top.
Meal #2 Eggs and Toast
What you need:
- Quality gluten free bread like Eban or Sprouted for Life*. Wanna make your own? click here
- Eggs ( preferably pasture raised)
- Egg cooker like the Pampered Chef one I use, or a non stick pan ( you can poach, fry, or scramble however you like).
What to do:
- Toast the bread and have plain or with grass-fed butter ( my bread is frozen and I've found that turning it once in the toaster gives me a better result)
- Cook the eggs according to the instructions or your own preferences. My egg cooker is about $20 and cooks these perfectly in less than 2 minutes!
*When looking for a gluten free bread, look for ones made with flours seeds and nuts and not a lot of starches, sugars or fillers.
Optional: Make your own bread with this simple recipe!
#3 Fancy Fancy French Omelet
What you need:
- 2 eggs
- spices (I used garlic, salt and pepper)
- Goat cheese
- 1/2 heirloom tomato
- Small, non stick pan
- Grass-fed butter
What to do:
- Turn the pan onto medium and whisk the eggs with a dash of water
- Melt about 1/2 TBS butter in pan (or spray with coconut oil)
- Pour eggs into pan and periodically rotate/tip pan around to spread the eggs around, scraping down the sides as you go. Sprinkle spices on top and keep moving the pan.
- Once eggs are almost cooked, crumble some goat cheese (aprox 1/2 oz) and fold omelet.
- Chop the heirloom tomato
- Let the omelet cook through ( you can flip it to cook on both sides for a few seconds if you want as well)
- Top with chopped tomato.
Optional: pull out some fruit from the refrigerator and add as a side! I often "prep" fruit over the weekend by pulling grapes off the vine, washing my berries, cutting my strawberries etc. Makes it easy and fast to enjoy!
#4 Brunner
A combo of traditional breakfast, lunch and dinner foods you can eat this any time of day.
What you need:
- Small non stick sauce pan
- Turkey steak
- Microwaveable sweet potato
- Egg
- Grass-fed butter
What to do:
- Get that sweet potato in the microwave so it can cook for 7 minutes
- melt some butter in the sauce pan and add your steak and egg
- Let the turkey sear and the egg cook through as you wait for the potato to finish
- Enjoy!
#5 Gourmet Any Day
What you need:
- 2 eggs + egg cooker ( sauce pan, poacher, or pampered chef dish)
- Chocolate chia Seed Pudding (made ahead)
- Green juice: 1/2 stalk of greens (swiss chard, kale, collard greens, bok choy) + 1 green apple + 2 celery stalks + 1/2 honey crisp apple + lemon
What to do:
- Cook your eggs any way
- Scoop out 1/4 cup chia seed pudding
- Juice your juice ingredients
- Enjoy
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I know when I began changing my diet everything felt overwhelming. What could I eat? did I have to cook a lot? Was I going to waste my life in the kitchen trying to figure things out?
What I have earned over the years is to keep it simple:
- Be willing to eat dinner leftovers for breakfast.
- Be willing to eat vegetables at any meal - preferably all meals.
- Don't overcomplicate the cooking process. Bake, steam, sear, microwave....
- Meal prepping a little bit allows for a lot of time saved during the week
- Leftovers are your friend
Any of the meals above can be eaten at any time of the day! Within these 5 meals are probably 100 other variations....switch up the proteins used, switch up the veggies used, add some fruit or an additional side....personalize and add to or takeaway as you see fit....
Life is an adventure and enjoyment is important. But delicious doesn't mean slaving for hours. Break it down...keep it simple...enjoy your day :)
Here's to your health!
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Fall Apple Salad
Welcome to October Diva friends!
I have to admit that traditionally, I'm not a salad person. So when my MRT food sensitivities test came back with spinach and lettuce as foods to avoid, I wasn't too disappointed. HOWEVER, I am so aware of the many benefits of leafy greens that it felt weird not making more of an effort once the easy-go-to spinach wasn't an option.
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The other day I sat down to plan my weekly meals and decided that this week was going to be a "detox" week. No no, I wasn't going on an "all liquids" diet, or dropping my calories below 1000....All I wanted was to get lots of vegetables in, lower my meat intake (for no particular reason other than to get more easily digestible foods priority and include more beans and lentils) and include a juice every morning. So as I was looking for some recipes to include I stumbled across this Autumn Kale Apple and Quinoa salad, and thought, "That sounds like the perfect fall salad!"
I modified it to use what I have in the house and to avoid my personal food sensitivities and what happened was a DELICIOUS, sweet, crisp fall salad that I am excited to eat for lunch every day this week! OBVIOUSLY I had to share it with YOU!
*Notes* I modified the amounts to make 1 serving every day. I did make the full amount of dressing up front so I could have that prepared all week!
Picture from cookingclasssy.com
Fall Apple Salad
Ingredients:
- 1/4 cup sprouted quinoa trio
- Bowl of shredded kale
- 1/2 honey crisp apple chopped
- 1-2TBS pistachios
- 1 TBS raisins
- Drizzle of pre-made dressing
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Prep ahead/personalization notes:
- While this is something you could make in large amounts on Sunday and pack for work lunches (minus the dressing) I chose to make mine fresh every day. I did however prep a few things to make it easier. For example, I made a large batch of quinoa on Sunday so I could pull from that for snacks and/or this salad throughout the week.
- I took one bunch of kale and pulled all the leaves off the spine, placed the leaves in a dish in the fridge so I can pull my daily portion out at lunch. I utilized the leftover leaves and spines in my morning green juice.
- To save half the apple you can wrap it in aluminum foil after you rub the exposed side with lemon or lime juice to stay fresh. Consider having the second half as a snack later in the day. I used half in my morning juice and half in my salad at lunch.
- Use any nut you enjoy!
- Goat cheese is delicious but optional! Make sure you read the ingredients and choose a high quality brand without extra ingredients or preservatives!
ENJOY!
p.s. Did you try this? Comment below! I'd love yo hear your feedback!
