Homemade Butternut Squash Soup

I am so proud of myself! This was my very first attempt at making any kind of soup other than chicken veggie soup without a recipe to follow as a guideline.

And… drum roll please… it turned out great!

Tonight I made homemade butternut squash soup. Not only was it so easy, but it was delicious, too!

Butternut Squash Soup

I wanted to use the mashed butternut squash I baked last week because I was afraid it would go bad if it sat in my fridge too much longer so I figured tonight was a good night to attempt butternut squash soup!

I started by dumping half of a bag of baby carrots and half of an onion into the food processor.

Carrots and Onions

I processed the veggies until they were almost smooth.

All Whirred Up

I then put the butternut squash flesh in the food processor to blend it until it was free of any lumps.

Blended Butternut

I sprayed a pot with cooking spray before dumping the carrot and onion mixture into the pot and letting it sizzle for 3 – 5 minutes. I then added the butternut squash and stirred the mix regularly for about 3 minutes.

Thick Veggies

After adding 2.5 cups of chicken broth, the mixture became more soupy. I let it simmer on low for about 10 minutes so all the flavors would come out to enhance the soup.

When it was done and Ryan and I both enjoyed every last slurp of this soup!

Yummy

Hooray for a successful first attempt at butternut squash soup!

I’m off to girl’s holiday movie night! Enjoy your Monday night everyone. 🙂

On-Hand Lavash Pizza

Since we arrived home to Orlando later in the evening, we didn’t have time to run to to grocery store, so lunch was limited to ingredients I had on hand.

Lavash Pizza

I made a lavash pizza using:

• One Joseph’s lavash bread
• Tomato basil marinara sauce
• Goat cheese
• Spinach
• Plum tomato slices

Monday's Lunch

It was delish and I ended up rolling it up pizza- roll up style! The blend of the marinara sauce and the goat cheese was a creamy, white pizza sauce. So good!

Check and Check

It looks like this past weekend was very successful in the wedding planning process. Thank you to all of you who commented with tips on how to save money and cut costs. I’m sure I’ll be asking for your advice more and more as the planning progresses.

We’ve selected our florist and photographer and I’m off to mail our contract tothe photographer this evening! Exciting stuff!!!

Holiday Movie Night

Girl’s holiday movie night continues tonight with Miracle on 34th Street. Should be a good one! 🙂

Miracle on 34th Street

Blogger Secret Ingredient: Week 61 – Nutmeg!

Woop,. woop! I’m hosting Week 61 of the Blogger Secret Ingredient super-fun competition! 😀

(Thank you to Jenn for passing hosting duties along to me!)

Get your thinking caps on because this week’s secret ingredient is…

NUTMEG!

Nutty and Delicious!

With the holiday season in full-swing, I figured this spice would be a good selection since it’s used in both sweet and savory holiday (and non-holiday) dishes.

In case you’re not familiar with BSI here are the details:

The rules:

1. The host picks an ingredient, preferably one that is in season, readily available, and not too expensive.
2. The host links back to all the other previous weekly hosts.
3. Participants create a unique recipe using the BSI and e-mail the host with their recipes.
4. You do not have to have a food blog to participate, and you do not have to submit a photograph (although it is preferred).
5. If you don’t have a blog, you can submit your recipe to the host, and she will post your recipe for you on her blog.
6. The host reviews the recipe submissions by Sunday night of each week.
7. The hosts pick a recipe that is her favorite.
8. The host posts the winner Monday morning and sends the winner a token prize of her choosing.

Here is a list of all the past hosts of BSI. Check ’em out because they’re pretty awesome:

Week 60: Jenn Eats Nutritiously Now – Garlic

Week 59: homecookedem—Cinnamon

Week 58: The Balance Broad – Flax

Week 57:  CookinFanatic – Bleu Cheese

Week 56:  Foodie In the City – Ricotta Cheese

Week 55: Savvy Eats– Maple Syrup

Week 54: Sound Eats – Dried Fruit

Week 53: MegaNerdRuns – Acorn Squash

Week 52: Healthy Tipping Point – Pancake Mix

Week 51: Live, Laugh Eat – Almond Butter

Week 50: Balance, Joy and Delicias! – Cauliflower

Week 49: Healthy San Diego Living – Chickpeas

Week 48: Thought 4 Food – Yogurt

Week 47: London Foodie in New York – Chocolate

Week 46: Johnstone’s Vin Blanc – Oats

Week 45: Guilty Kitchen – Figs

Week 44: Ordinary Recipes Made Gourmet – Peanut Butter

Week 43: The Sophisticated Gourmet – Brown Sugar

Week 42: My Kitchen Addiction – Lime

Week 41: Nutmeg Nanny – Coffee

Week 40: Chaya’s Comfy Cook – Broccoli

Week 39: Healthy Delicious – Plums

Week 38: Zoe – Feta

Week 37: ChezWhat– Potatoes

Week 36: Cinnamon, Spice & Everything Nice – Blueberries

Week 35: Girlichef -Greens

Week 34: The Ungourmet – Watermelon

Week 33: Bread + Butter – Bell Pepper

Week 32: Burp and Slurp -Corn

Week 31: Say Yes to Salad – Kabocha

Week 31 1/2: Simply Fabulous Now– Cherries

Week 30: Thinspired – Bananas

Week 29: To Be The Whole Package – Almonds

Week 28: Kristas Kravings – Lemon

Week 27: From French Fries To Flax Seeds – Coconut

Week 26: Plentiful Plants – Avocado

Week 25: Training Fuel – Eggs

Week 24: Dinner at Christina’s – Cabbage

Week 23: Hey What’s for Dinner, Mom? – Strawberries

Week 22: One Bite at a Time – Basil

Week 21:  Just Sweet Enough – Black Beans

Week 20: What I Ate Yesterday – Kale

Week 19: What’s for Dinner – Orange

Week 18: Bran Appetit!–Spinach

Week 17: Tales of Expansion -Dates

Week 16: Biggest Diabetic Loser – Zucchini

Week 15: Sweet & Natural –Peppermint

Week 14: bella eats [and runs] – Ginger

Week 13: Coffee Talk – Walnuts

Week 12: For the Love of Oats – Pumpkin

Week 11: Trying to Heal – Sweet Potatoes

Week 10: The Inner Workings of a College Graduate – Eggplant

Week 9: Itzy’s Kitchen – Pears

Week 8: The Fitnessista – Cranberries

Week 7: Tri to Cook – Lentils

Week 6: Rhodey Girl Tests – Polenta

Week 5: Eating Bender – Butternut Squash

Week 4: Care to Eat – Apples

Week 3: On a Lobster Placemat – Mushrooms

Week 2: Hangry Pants – Tomatoes

Week 1: sportsnutritionliving – Quinoa

• Please e-mail  me (pbfingers@gmail.com) when you post your BSI recipe on your blog. If you don’t have a blog, send me your recipe and a picture if you took one.
• You have until Sunday, December 20 at 10p.m. EST to enter
• Recipes will be posted on Monday morning along with the winner.
• Please email me (pbfingers@gmail.com) if you’re interested in hosting BSI next week.

I will select the winner Sunday night and post the winner Monday morning. The winner will receive a nice lil’ gift so be sure to enter!!!

The Smell of Citrus

Is there a smell more refreshing than the smell of fresh citrus?

I don’t think so! All weekend, I was enjoying clementines at my parents’ house and I snagged a few to bring back to Orlando to enjoy throughout the week.

Clementine

Living in Florida has its perks! Fresh and deliciously juicy fruit is definitely one of ’em.

The clementine was a tasty addition to my breakfast of Greek yogurt topped with Kay’s Naturals golden butter pretzels and a big mug of hot Yogi goji berry green tea.

All Peeled Up

Yogurt Topped with Pretzels

I ate most of the bag of pretzels before shaking the remains on top of my yogurt. These pretzels are very tasty! At first bite they are kind of strange, but by the third bite I was loving them!

Kay's Naturals Pretzels

The nutrition facts on the pretzels are awesome, especially since normal pretzels pretty much have nothing to offer from a nutritional standpoint. These pretzels had 10 grams of protein and two grams of fiber in a serving. Niiice.

Monday's Breakfast

That big mug of tea made my belly hot and full. That’s a lot of liquid!

Workout

Today’s workout was a good one. Since my weekends are often pretty relaxed from an exercise standpoint, I enjoy a good sweat session on Monday mornings. Today I went to BodyPump and did 25 minutes of cardio afterward (10 minute run, 5 minutes incline walking, 10 minutes elliptical).

Santa in a Speedo

I took Sadie on her morning walk after my workout. It is so foggy in Orlando today! I think the visibility on our walk was less than a quarter of a mile. Apparently the whole “It’s hot! It’s cold! It’s hot! It”s cold! ” thing has the weather freaking out. It’s supposed to reach 84 degrees in Orlando today. Santa nay have to deliver presents in a Speedo.

After I wrote that comment about the Speedo, I did a search for Santa in a Speedo and apparently there are tons of Santa  Speedo-themed runnning races all over the nation!

Check out these photos:

Santa Speedo Run

Keepin' Warm

They totally need to do one of these in Orlando. It’s actually warm here! 😀

Have you ever dressed up to run a race? What’s the funniest race costume you’ve ever seen?

When I ran in a Turkey Trot over Thanksgiving last year, I ran by a woman in a full turkey headdress. She had a horn she would honk that made the turkey gobbler sound. It was awesome!