Acorn Squash Soup

~I'm fallin for fall~

Last week my husband went grocery shopping for me because he's amazing and I hate grocery shopping. I asked him to get me a chayote squash and he came home with an acorn squash. It turned out to be such a happy mistake. Although I had never cooked with an acorn squash  before I didn't want it to go to waste so I looked up some recipes and then made up my own acorn squash soup! Let me to tell you something, it's freakin delicious. Even my husband who is not a soup guy, loves this. 

Might I add that if you like parsnips then you will love this soup they add such a great flavor. I guess if you don't like them you can always use carrots instead. Also, it's packed full of good things for you so without further ado here is how you make it! 

Ingredients: 

• 1 acorn squash
• 1 sweet potato
• 2 parsnips
• 1 onion
• 2 cloves of garlic
• dash of cinnamon 
• salt and pepper to taste
• tsp cumin
• dash of cayenne pepper 
• 1/2 tsp of ground ginger
• 2 1/2 cups of chicken or vegetable broth 

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. 

2. Peel your parsnips and sweet potato. 

3. Chop them up and steam them till a fork can easily go through them. 

4. Cut your acorn squash in half, scrape out the creepy insides. 

5. Place squash onto a greased baking sheet and bake for one hour at 400. 

6. Sauté your chopped onion and crushed garlic in oil till it smells good. (you can tell i'm really precise here lol) 

7. Add 2 1/2 cups of broth to your pan. 

8. When your squash is cooked, scrape out the good stuff and put it in your pan along with your steamed sweet potato and parsnips.

9. Add in your seasonings: dash of cinnamon, salt and pepper to taste, tsp cumin, dash of cayenne pepper, 1/2 tsp of ground ginger. (PS: i'm really not one who measures, so feel free to play around with your spices or add something else that taste good) 

10. Pour everything into a blender or food processor and blend away. If you don't have a great blender like me, you may have to blend your soup little by little and not all at once. 

11. Get cozy and enjoy a tasty hot bowl of soup. 

With fall recipes like this I can't help but fall in love with fall?

Healthy Peanut-Butter Cookies

I know I know, how can the word healthy and cookie be in the same sentence, well if a cookie doesn't have any bad sugars in it then it's considered healthy in my book. 

I was skeptical making these but once I tried them the most amazing thing happened...I fell in love with a healthy cookie. You guys even my husband loves them, he literally begged me to make more. That's when I knew that these were too good not to share. 

Ingredients: 

1 cup - All Natural Peanut Butter (No added anything) 

1/2 cup- Honey

3 packets- Stevia

1 tsp- Vanilla Extract

1/2 cup- Oats

1- Egg

1tsp- Baking Soda

1. Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees. 

2. Put all of your ingredients into a bowl and stir it together. 

3. Greece your baking sheet, I used coconut oil. 

4. Glob your dough onto your baking sheets. My mixture was pretty sticky so I didn't roll it into balls. 

5. Use a fork to smash them, you don't have to do this but peanut butter cookies always do, so it felt right LOL. 

6. Put them in the oven and cook for 11 minutes. 

7. Take them out and let them cool.  

8. Devour your delicious cookies!

Feel free to tweak the recipe, and if you want them sweeter add more honey. If you make them, let me know how they turn out!

Date Brownies

I love brownies, I just love them. What I don't love is what they do to my body. So i've been looking for a healthy alternative. Tonight I made a batch of sugar and gluten free brownies. They actually turned out good. I mean they aren't quite as good as a sugary gooey brownie but since I can eat these guilt free I'd say they're great. 

I found the recipe on Pinterest of course from THIS blog. Go make a batch for yourself and see what you think. 

What I really want to make are some raw coconut chocolate balls but I didn't have all the ingredients, so date brownies it was! 

YUM! 

Quinoa Egg Muffin Bites

I'm pretty stoked about these little egg bites I made today, they are honestly so yummy and healthy! I'm always looking for delicious foods that are still good for you. Eating healthy is hard and not always very fun, I would probably never look at a bowl of veggies and say "YUMM those look delicious." I am trying to love my body more and give it food that's nourishing and will make me feel great afterwards. These mini egg muffin bites are hopefully a step in the right direction. 

Here is what you need to make them: 

• 4 strips of Bacon
• 4 eggs
• Quinoa (I made 1/2 cup)  
• 1/2 cup chickpeas (I use dried chickpeas that I previously cooked) 
• Salsa 
• Cheese
• Salt 
• Pepper
• Dried Basil
• Coconut Oil

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Cook your quinoa, I added salt and pepper and dried basil to it.  
3. Cook bacon, I like mine crispy (BACCONNN DROOOL). 
4. With a fork mix together your eggs.
5. Add a few scoops of salsa and a small handful of cheese to your eggs.
6. Add a pinch of salt, pepper and dried basil to egg mixture.

Here is what my egg mixture looked like once I added all ingredients. 

7. Oil muffin tin with coconut oil.

8. Take cooked quinoa and scoop a little into each cup (See picture below). 

9. Pour egg mixture over quinoa into each cup. 

10. Then drop a few chickpeas and bacon pieces into each cup! 

11. Pop them in the oven at 350 degrees for about 15-20 minutes. (I had enough to make 2 trays of mini egg muffins) 

12. ENJOY! 

Quinoa Burrito Bowl

People often ask me what my go-to meals are, well this is one of them. It's quick, easy, delicious and healthy. I usually have all of the ingredients on hand so thats helpful. 

Here's how I made it. 

Cook quinoa and chicken with peppers. 

Heat up black beans and corn. I use dried black beans that I have previously cooked. 

Chop up cilantro. 

Throw it all together and ENJOY! 

Quinoa Burrito Bowl

Ingredients:

• Chicken
• Quinoa 
• Black Beans
• Corn
• Green Peppers
• Cilantro
• Salsa
• Lime Slice 
• Garlic Powder
• Salt
• Pepper
• Paprika
• Chili Powder
• Cumin 

Directions:

• Cook Quinoa (add a sprinkle of garlic powder, pepper and cumin to water) 
• Cut up chicken and season it with Paprika, garlic powder, salt and pepper (season to taste). 
• Cook chicken on the stove, on medium heat until all the pink is gone. 
• Chop up green peppers and add them to the chicken when chicken is half way done. 
• Warm black beans and corn, season to taste with chili powder and cumin. 
• Chop up cilantro for garnish. 
• Put everything together in a bowl top with salsa, cilantro and a lime slice. Add cheese or sour cream if desired. 

It's so quick and easy and delicious, did I mention delicious :) 

PS: sorry I don't measure anything I just throw stuff together.  

Peanut Butter Banana Bites

I'm not much of a baker, I have done very little baking in my life. That doesn't stop me from trying though. I don't love following recipes I like just making stuff up so that's what I did this morning. 

These were husband approved and a perfect snack to grab on the go. 

Ingredients: 

1 cup oats 

1 banana 

1/3 cup peanut butter 

1/3 cup chocolate chips (I didn't have chocolate chips so I used dark chocolate pieces) 

1/2 tsp vanilla 

2TBS honey 

Put all ingredients into a mixing bowl, and mash everything together. 

 It will look something like the picture above. 

Then make little spoonfuls and place onto a greased baking sheet. 

Bake at 350 for 15 minutes. Let them cool for 15 minutes or so before eating.

Feel free to play around with the recipe. You could add nuts or cinnamon anything really!

Don't forget to smile today :)  

Berry Banana Yogurt Popsicles

I don't know about you but i'm constantly wanting ice cream or anything sweet. Stephane and I try not to buy sweets yet I'm always looking through our cupboards hoping to find some sugary treat. Only I know we don't have any, but somehow that doesn't stop me from looking and hoping one will appear. 

I've seen a few Pinterest ideas for popsicles and I finally gave my own idea a try. I found the cutest little popsicle holders at Walmart for $3 and had to have them. I'm really happy with how my popsicles turned out they were yummy and refreshing. 

You only need four ingredients to make these berry banana yogurt popsicles. 

Ingredients: 

1. Plain greek yogurt but any kind of yogurt would work great. 
2. One banana, I know thats not the prettiest banana but they're actually sweeter and better when they are turning brown. 
3. Mixed berries, mine are frozen but fresh would be even yummier I bet. 
4. Honey...mmmmm drool. 

Use about 1 cup of yogurt and place in a bowl for mixing. Use a fork to smash your banana into the yogurt and add honey if desired. Mine wasn't perfectly smooth at the end, it still had little chunks of banana. 

Then take your berries and throw them into a blender and add a glass of water. I added honey to the berries as well. 

Next you will scoop the yogurt into your popsicle holders and pour in the fruit puree. I tried layering them but it ended up only being two layers. When I make them again I will take more time to layer them carefully. 

I let them freeze over night. Above you can see my cute popsicle holders. I had extra fruit puree and I wish I had another set of popsicles holders because I had enough to fill them. 

Here is my finished popsicle, happy and ready to be devoured. This cutie was delicious and refreshing! 

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day! 

Spicy Roasted Chickpeas

I love chickpeas! I usually put them in salads because they're tiny and delicious. I saw on Pinterest that people were roasting chick peas and ever since i've been wanting to try it. 

First off when they were in the oven they smell heavenly, seriously so yummy! I had chickpeas already made, I buy them dried b/c its cheaper and you get a lot more for your money(you can use the canned chickpeas though). I then laid them on a paper towel to get the water off. 

Then I put them in a mixing bowl with:

Olive Oil

Salt

Peper

Garlic Powder

Onion Powder

Chilli Powder

Cumin 

Red Pepper Flakes 

I don't measure things, so just do it to taste. They turned out pretty spicy.

Set the oven to 400, and put them in for 30 minutes. 

Since it was my first time making them, i'm not sure how they are supposed to turn out. Mine were crunchy but not hard.  

They're a yummy little snack, and much better for you then a bag of chips. 

Perfect snack to curl up on the couch with your fuzzy socks on!