Namaste Gurl: A new found love

Tonight, after my mom and I got home from some mall shopping-- In the 100 degree heat, thank you very much. Summer comes a little late in Santa Cruz-- fog was our friend ALL summer. Anyways, i'll stop digressing and go back to my story. We both came back famished and HOT. Lucky for me, I whipped up some acorn autumn soup in my free time earlier, so I was set-- all I needed was a quick salad on the side. Keep reading for the recipe for my "acorn autumn soup"....it was DEVINE, do make it people. My mom had no dinner and didn't want to cook something that would take along time, as she had a meeting at 7:30. By the way, my mom's one of those typical (well, not all actually) mom's who thinks healthy eating "takes much too long" and vegetarians "don't get enough protein and vitamins" and "vegetarian food doesn't taste good". But sorry mom, all that is wrong. All of those statements can be proved wrong, but i'll go into that in another post :)

To make a long story short, I offered to make my mom dinner. She was tired from school--she's a 2nd grade teacher, it takes it ALL out of you-- and wanted something "hot" despite the 100 degree weather we had earlier, which was cooling off. I made her one of my favorite, quick but healthy dishes-- lots of asian-style veggies stir-fried with coconut oil, garlic and ginger and I mixed in dijon mustard (thanks, Heather-- the idea derived from Y-O-U!) and topped it with a little bit of crumbled goat cheese. I then microwaved-- I know, i know their better baked, but it was already 7-- a sweet potato and topped it with luscious coconut butter. She absolutely LOVED it. I was so excited; i'm glad she found that healthy food doesn't need to taste bad, take along time or be nutrient-rich deficient. She kept asking, "what's in it?" and "how did it taste so good?" The secrets are in the sauce, my friend.

I just thought I'd share the highlight of my day with you :) I love showing friends and family that the kind of food I eat--healthy, whole, nutritious-- is not hard to make or tasteless.

As for my foot-- I was able to do my swim class today, which was a plus-- however, it still hurts. No running or long walks yet, but it's doing better. For that, I'm grateful.

Onto my eats....

No pic of bfast since I quickly consumed a sweet potato smothered with almond butter before running out the door for swim (at 7:40 am).

For lunch, I made a salad with tomato, carrots, shrooms, cucumber and hard boiled eggs topped with "hummy-mustard dressing". I also had two pieces of TJs sprouted grain bread with coconut oil-- Yum.

At school, my tummy rumbled at about 3:30 again, so what did I snack on to hold me over? Oh, an Artisana coconut butter squeeze pack, of course. And it did quick the trick-- esp. for my tastebuds :)

After having lunch, too, I made a quick (I say quick much, too much) acorn autumn soup with the leftover acorn squash I had sitting in the fridge.

Acorn Autumn soup

Serves 1.

Ingredients

1 small onion, diced

1 garlic clove, minced

1 small apple of choice, chopped and diced

Half of a cooked acorn squash

Curry powder (a few shakes)

Salt, pepper

Cinnamon (a dash)

1/2 white beans

1 C. vegetable broth

Coconut oil, or your choice of oil

Method

In a non-stick sauce pan over medium heat, add oil and cook onion and garlic till soft. Then when soft, add chopped apple, scooped out (from skin) acorn squash, curry powder, beans, cinnamon and salt and pepper--sauté till soft; add veggie broth. Cover and simmer till soft for about 25- 30 minutes, depending on the consistency you like.
Add more water to thin, or if you like it thick like me, leave as is. Top with more cinnamon and walnuts or cashews-- enjoy!

It's like Fall in a bowl-- it was SOOO scrumptious. Do try, people, you won't be guilty.