Butternut Squash, Tomato & Quinoa Soup

I'm no chef but I'm not afraid to make up my own recipes. It does make it difficult to share a good recipe though!

I had a butternut squash at home to use up, and I worked a late shift that day so I wanted to put it in my crock pot. Here's what I did:

• Peeled and cubed Squash, placed in crock pot
• Covered chicken broth & water (until 1 inch over squash)
• Added 1 large can of whole tomatoes with juice
• Sprinkled in thyme leaves (about 1-2 tsp)
• Set on low and let cook for 8 hours

When I got home I put the soup in my food blender (in  2-3 sections) until blended smooth. Put this is a pot and added 1/2 Quinoa. Brought to a boil, then let simmer until quinoa cooked. Added sea salt to taste.

When I served the soup, I put a dollop of sour cream in the middle of the soup. For my husband I made garlic bread - crispy, cut it up like croutons and placed on soup. For myself I just squished up a few crackers.

It is super good! I was pleasantly surprised! I'm sure that you can make this easier somehow but it worked ok for me.

Enjoy!

Coconut Flour

Have you ever heard of Coconut flour?????? I am not a health food store wiz so I had never heard of it before - until a couple weeks ago and I was intrigued!

Here is what I have found out:

• Doesn't contain gluten
• High in Fibre
• High in Protein
• Coconut flour is more than ground up coconut; it is made by defatting and drying the coconut before grinding it. Some people have tried grinding unsweetened coconut themselves and have had mixed results with it.*

So I went to a health food store and picked some up! I'm willing to try anything once. Coconut flour just sounds too good to be true. Well it is very good! But it comes with a big price tag!!! Definitely not a frugal option, but can be used to substitute for just part of your flour in a recipe.

The product I bought suggested that I can replace up to 1/4 of the flour required in a recipe with coconut flour. I took out my MUFFINS & MORE cookbook and found the recipe for Banana Muffins.

I replaced 1/4 of the flour with coconut flour as directed but then I took it a step further! I used Kamut Flour for half of the recipe & then finished off the last 1/4 with all-purpose flour.

Here's what wiki says: KAMUT Brand Khorasan wheat is considered an ancient grain. Because it hasn't been modified with modern agricultural methods it has many benefits. The grain itself is very high in its protein content. It also contains a high mineral concentration especially in selenium, zinc, and magnesium. This grain variety is considered a high energy wheat, and provides the body with more energy in the form of complex carbohydrates. Because of its low oxidation levels it loses little nutritional content when being ground and processed. Even though this wheat variety contains gluten, it has been found to be more easily digestible by people who may have slight allergic tendencies.**

So how did the recipe turn out? Ummm delicious! My muffins were so light and fluffy, not 'cakey' at all. The nutty flavour of the Kamut flour & the sweetness of the Coconut flour were great options for my muffins! I suggest you read the directions on your Kamut or Coconut flour when making substitutions or just follow a recipe specialised for these substitutions already!

*http://www.squidoo.com/living-low-carb-with-coconut-flour
** http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamut

Garden Fresh Soup - Tomatoccini

Last night I wasn't sure what to make for supper and I noticed my tomatoes I had picked from the garden were ripe. So I decided to make some soup, I didn't know exactly what I was going to make when I started but here is what I ended up with:

• I cut the tomatoes (4 large) into chunks, threw them into a saucepan, pour some Extra Virgin Olive Oil over top, mixed, covered and let simmer for a few minutes. I noticed they were nicely cooking into a nice liquid.


• I had a bunch of zucchini so I peeled and cut one up, and threw into the pot as well. I put the lid back on and simmered more.
  
• Then I went and grabbed some herbs that I am growing, basil and some parsley. Cut up fine and threw those into the pot.


• I have also grown some shallots so I cut a few small ones up and put those in.
  
• Added garlic salt and pepper to taste.
  
• After I was satisfied everything was nicely cooked I threw the soup into a blender and made smooth.
  
• Put soup back into the pot and decided to add a bit of 3% milk. This made it even better! Here's the finished product:
  

I could have made this without the zucchini and just made a nice tomato soup. You can add dairy or no dairy. I think you can make soup from any type of vegetable!

When I cook I don't like to use recipes, or I will use them as a guideline. The only time I really to try to follow recipes is when I am baking. I find that if you are taste testing every so often you will be able to make something you really like! I love to invent soups, they are so delicious!

Kale & Smoothies

I purchased some Kale from the local farmer's market and wasn't too sure what to do with it. I had some leftover chili so I chopped and steamed some to put in there because I wasn't sure what it would taste like. I don't like Spinach so I was afraid. But surprisingly it wasn't too bad!

I told my friend about a smoothie that I had made this morning for my husband and I. Here is my recipe:

1 c frozen blueberries
2 frozen bananas
1 tbls Udo Oil
1 tbls fresh ground flax seed
1 c chopped raw kale

This made a green mixture that tasted pretty good and I knew it was nutricious. I got the idea from this article: http://ezinearticles.com/?Green-Smoothies---My-Kids-Eat-Kale-For-Breakfast&id=2220465

My friend asked what Kale was and I wasn't completly sure so I looked it up on good old wikipedia. Here are some good facts I found:

Kale is considered to be a highly nutritious vegetable with powerful antioxidant properties and is anti-inflammatory.

Kale is very high in beta carotene, vitamin K, vitamin C, lutein, zeaxanthin, and reasonably rich in calcium. Because of its high vitamin K content, patients taking anti-coagulants such as warfarin are encouraged to avoid this food since it increases the vitamin K concentration in the blood, which is what the drugs are often attempting to lower. This effectively raises the effective dose of the drug.

Kale, as with Broccoli and other brassicas, contains sulforaphane, a chemical believed to have potent anti-cancer properties, particularly when chopped or minced.

I found out also that it is a part of the cabbage family, not spinach related! Which is happy news for me!

I put Udo Oil in lots of things. It is best not to cook it at all so I add it before I serve something. Here is a link for information on this product: http://www.florahealth.com/flora/home/canada/products/R7980.asp

So that is my nutritional advice for the day! Try out the recipe and I would always love to hear more smoothie recipes