Hearty Lentil Soup.

So what was the mystery dinner? Did you guess?

Lentil Soup!

It felt like the perfect (almost) wintry feeling day to cook up a big (and I mean big) batch of soup.  As far as soups go, like most things; cookies, KitKats etc. I like em’ chunky! The more good chunky stuff in there, the better in my books.

So I assembled the goodies…

Lentil soup mixin’s

And got to work in the kitchen!

Now, let me start by saying that this soup was good and I mean really good! It even got Chris’s seal of approval (not always easy to get!). I think one of the things that really took this soup over the top was the inclusion of…salsa! I got the idea to use salsa from Erica House and I must say, it was a game changer. My recipe is adapted from her lentil and spinach soup which you can find here.

Hearty Lentil Soup 

Yields A lot of soup Approx 10 Servings 

What You Need;

1 1/2 Cups chopped carrots

1 large chopped Onion

2 Tbs Olive Oil

3 Cups Water

3 Cups Unsalted Cooking broth (I used chicken, but vegetable would also be great!)

1 16oz Tub of Salsa (I used medium which gave a nice heat, but the brave could use hot)

1 1/4 Cups of rinsed, uncooked Green Lentils

Salt and Pepper to taste.

What You Do;

In a heavy pot or dutch oven (I used our le creuset which I loveeee), heat the oil over medium high heat.

Add the carrots and onion and allow to cook until tender.

Once tender, add the water, cooking broth, lentils and salsa to the mix.  Stir to combine.

Bring the mixture to a boil, then turn to low heat, cover and simmer until lentils are tender (approx 60 mins).

Add salt and pepper to taste and dish out generous portions!

Serve alone or like we did in the McD house, with half a toasted, buttered whole grain english muffin.

Enjoy!

Cooking Away…

And now for the best part…

Eating time!!

This recipe was definitely a winner and had Chris and I both going back for seconds.

I hope it warms a chilly night for you all out there!

See you tomorrow!

 

 

 

 

Married Moment!

Hi everyone out there! I hope your Tuesday is going swimmingly. Mine sure is!

Lunch…

Lunch today was a packed lunch courtesy of dinner last night.  I gave myself a little extra time before heading off to work to whip up a nice healthy lunch to enjoy with the kiddies.

Steak salad.

Steak salad…oxymoron?? I paired the left over chunks slices of steak with some baby spinach, baby carrots and sliced red peppers.  I dressed it all with a little bit of balsamic vinegar.  It was nutritious and delicious! Bonus!

I also made sure to pack one of my peanut butter energy bites to get me through the afternoon.  It worked a treat! I’m not sure how I ever lived without these babies.  Energy and taste galore!!

Today was another gorgeous day in the city, so I made sure to spend some good time outside with the kiddies.  Clear blue skies and cold weather calls for one thing…fur!

Fur day!

Love wearing my cozy jackets.  I’m just going to put it out there…’it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas’!! (Yes I know it’s not even Thanksgiving yet, but a girl can dream!).

In amongst all the loving I was laying on San Francisco today, something exciting/funny/creepy happened.  Chris and I had a full-blown ‘married moment’.  We had the exact same thought at the exact same time!! We were texting back and forward to see what we should do this weekend (yes, we live for the weekends).  And then this happened…

Married moment!

It really happened! We’re meant to be! Orrr we’re both just really craving a trip to Santa Cruz, one or the other.  Needless to say, I was pretty excited about it.

Workout…

I got home from work close to 5 today which is about an hour past my usual mental workout cut off  time but I was really feeling the motivation today! Since it was already getting dark outside, it was the perfect time for a workout DVD.  So, I spent half an hour with my girl Jillian Michaels.

Hey Jillian! Wanna hang out?? 

I did Jillian’s ’30 Day Shred’ and opted to go all out with level 3.  It felt great to do this workout, it’s quick but it’s sweaty and hard!! As usual, the jump squats and rock star jumps nearly left me in a sweaty pile on the ground but I pushed through and finished it up.  I love that you can just pop a DVD in the machine and get a good workout, ahh technology!

I don’t know about you all, but I’m a sweaty beast.  I’m off to shower before Chris comes home and decides there will be no more married moments because he married an animal.  Just kidding! He loves me no matter how much I look and/or smell like a troll, true love!

I’m also working on some dinner using these things…

Mystery!

What could it be?? Swing by later on to find out!

 

 

 

 

Sweet Potato? Yam?

Dinner last night was delicious, delicious steak.  I am a big time meat lover so I very much enjoy a good steak.  I left the meat cooking to the man of the house while I worked on a side of a twice baked sweet potato.  Well, that was the plan until I discovered I had most definitely purchased yams instead of sweet potatoes!

This is something I just don’t understand.  What’s a yam compared to a sweet potato?? Are they the same thing? Are they from the same family of vegetables? Now that I’m looking at the yams, they definitely look different to sweet potatoes, however at the supermarket, they’re always together and there mustn’t have been any actual sweet potatoes when I was there.  Ohh the confusion!

So needless to say, my twice baked sweet potato turned into twice baked…yams!

I was going to use the recipe found on Happy Healthy Girl but ended up having to adapt the quantities to accommodate my yam friends! You can find the original recipe here.

Twice Baked Yams! 

What You Need;

One medium to large sized yam

1/2 Tbs Plain Non-fat Greek Yogurt

1/2 Tbs Almond Milk

1/2 Tbs Light Brown Sugar

1/4 Tsp Cinnamon

1/2 Tbs Chopped Walnuts

What You Do;

Pre-heat oven to 425F/220C

On a lightly sprayed baking sheet, place yam (sliced in half lengthways) face down and bake for approx 30 minutes or until tender

Allow yams to cool for a minute or two.

Holding the yam halves, scoop out the centre leaving a 1/2 inch border around the edges.

Place the filling from both halves into a bowl.

Add other ingredients and mash/mix to combine

Place the combined ingredients back inside the empty yam shells

Sprinkle with a little extra brown sugar and place back in the oven until heated through (approx 15 mins).

Serve with your favourite meal and enjoy!

Mash it up!

Ready for bake #2!

Twice Baked Yams!

These actually turned out being really tasty! I can only imagine how they would taste with sweet potato haha.  The beauty of a side dish like this is that you can mash the filling with whatever you like! And also pair it with whatever you like.  It went really well with steak and some baby carrots.

……………………..

This morning started off on a sweet note with some Annie bedtime cuddles.

Annie cuddle bug

And was made even sweeter by a nice delicious breakfast.

A little of this…

English Breakfast tea

And a little of this…

Almond Milk Porridge

Old fashioned oats made with almond milk, topped with sliced banana, light brown sugar and chopped walnuts.

Started my day off on the right foot! Yum!

Time to get showered and ready for work.  See you later on!