Butternut squash soup and variation

Butternut squash soup

Ingredients:
1 bag of frozen butternut squash cubes
1/4 cup onions
1 tablespoon coconut oil
4 cups veggetable broth
S&P to taste

Saute the onions in the coconut oil. Add the butternut squash cubes and cook for a few minutes. Add the broth, and simmer for 20 minutes until the squash in tender. Puree with a stick blender. This is a thin, broth-like soup, great for a base.



Today I wanted something hot for lunch, and soup sounded good, but I wanted a heartier soup. So, I thought I would heat up a cup of my butternut squash soup and add 3 tablespoons of couscous. Then for protein I chopped up the end of the smoked ham from christmas and added it. It was so good! The soup thickened up nicely, and the ham added a great salty contrast to the sweet base.

Larabar Cashew Cookie

Instead of chocolate in my stocking, I was presented with some natural food bars, what fun! I hadn't ever tried a Larabar, so I wasn't sure what to expect. The stats are decent, but not a whole lot of protein. Then I actually looked at the ingredient list and there were 2 things: cashews and dates. And it's in bar form:


So, of course my mind is whirling thinking about how I could make this myself and add some protein powder. Might be getting some dates on the next shopping trip! This bar was quite tasty.

Delicata squash soup

Tried delicata squash today. I was in the mood for soup, since we have a winter storm coming. I split the delicata and roasted it in the toaster oven.
Then I scraped it out and put it in the magic bullet blender. I guess you are supposed to be able to eat the skin, but it seemed a bit tough to me, so I just scooped it out. I used 1 cup of veggie broth. The squash was 110 grams of 'meat'.
I wanted protein, so I scoured the fridge. I chopped up a veggie sausage patty and then added some feta cheese. Strange combo, I know - but it turned out pretty good. I am craving salty stuff today, so this kind of hits the spot. The cheese didn't really melt, which gave it an interesting texture, but maybe a bit rubbery. I topped it with 10 grams of toasted walnuts for crunch - those were the best part!

Mini pumpkin souffle

In my never ending quest to eat more pumpkin - I tried this idea from Kath Eats

It's like a quick and easy version of pumpkin custard.
1/2 cup (122 g) pumpkin
45 grams of egg whites (just under 1/4 cup)
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 generous tsp brown sugar.

Mix well in a small bowl and microwave for 3-4 minutes until it is firms up all across the top. Of course, I had to top with a dollop of cranberry sauce.

I have to say that this is really tasty, especially on a cold day like today after 2.5 hours of shoveling!

Stats: About 125 calories, 1 gram of fat, 5 grams of fiber, 8 grams of protein

Breakfast cookie

I made these awhile ago, but am just now getting around to posting the recipe. It's from The BodyArt Cookbook: Physique Transformations

It's kind of a mix between a pancake and a big moist oatmeal cookie, and I can again see many possible variations on this. I did a gingersnap version.

1/2 cup (40 g) rolled oats
15 g protein powder
1/4 tsp of baking powder
1 tbsp ground flax meal
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground clove
1/2 tsp ground ginger

2 egg whites (or 1/4 cup egg substitute)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
sweetener of choice (I used 1 tsp of molasses)

Mix everything together in a bowl, and add enough water to make a batter - around 1/4 cup or less.
Cook on the stove like pancakes, or you can use muffin cups and bake them in the toaster oven (although I have not tried this yet). I would say several minutes per side to make sure the cookies are done all the way through.

It made 3 big cookies (as pictured above). They aren't really sweet - so adjust the sweetener as you need to (and adjust calories)

The total calories for the recipe - 272 calories, 5 grams fat, 29 grams carbs, 6 grams fiber, 30 grams protein.

I ate all 3 as my breakfast, yum! I could certainly see making some cream cheese frosting for these and having one as a snack!!
Think I might try some with cocoa powder next or maybe pumpkin and craisins.