Sunday, January 15, 2012

Butternut Squash Soup

A recipe for 6-8 servings


2 pounds total of butternut squash, acorn squash, pumpkin halved and seeded
½ cup sweet onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic
1 chipotle pepper
1 tablespoon fresh ginger
1 bay leaf
1 pinch cumin
1 pinch nutmeg
1 pinch cayenne pepper
4 chicken or vegetable stock
Salt and pepper to taste
Toasted Pumpkin seeds
8 teaspoons light sour cream
Season to taste with crushed red pepper and lemon juice



In a heavy sauce pot set over medium heat cover the squash, onion, garlic, chipotle pepper, bay leaf and remaining spices with the chicken stock. Cook the mixture until the squash is tender. Remove the chipotle pepper and bay leaf. Carefully add the mixture to a food processor and work till a smooth texture is achieved adding more stock to thin the consistency and finish the seasoning to taste with salt and pepper. Serve warm garnished with a teaspoon of sour cream and a few pumpkin seeds

Monday, January 2, 2012

A New New Year's Resolution

Far too often a New Year’s resolution to be healthier is a veiled allusion to be thinner at the expense of being healthy no matter what size that happens to be. Well, no more.

The New Year is here again
Time to get to getting thin
It seems that I’ve been here before
And then I pledged there’d be no more

No more diets no more pills
No more useless treadmills
No more being what I’m not
Oh how many gym memberships I’ve bought

No more striving for that size
That I was when I was FIVE!
No more tears and sweat and blood
No more baths in artesian mud

No more weigh ins every week
No more snacks I’ll have to sneak
No more worries that I am fat
Some even say that’s where it’s at

So this year I seek to be
A healthy vibrant same old me
Same old me same old size
This year there is a New Prize

The prize is not thin and svelte
But will be measured how it’s felt
I resolve to feel good even if
The scale peaks out when it’s tipped

My self-worth doesn’t come you see
From being like the waifs on TV
Momma and Daddy weren’t like that
Hmm they were happy and they were fat!

This year my resolution is new
I don’t have to look like you
I like me the way I am
Besides in shape can also mean round!