Butternut Squash Soup

My first Butternut Squash Soup!

This was my own creation

I couldn't find a recipe online that I liked all of, so I used what I had available and just put it together myself =) First time I didn't follow a recipe or someone's guidelines!

 You'll need:

Two medium/large butternut squashes

One large pan & one skillet

Milk

Honey

Sweet yellow onion

Fresh Thyme

Butter

Sea Salt & Pepper

Olive Oil

Fresh Garlic

Either water or Vegetable broth. (I used some frozen veggie stock cubes)

Most of the recipes I found instructed you to peel the butternut squash and to dice it & boil the squash. I simply cut mine in half, spooned out the seeds, and baked them. 

Place them open side down on a cookie sheet & fill the tray with about half an inch of water.

Bake them for 45 mins to an hour at 350.

 While your squash are cooling, heat some olive oil on medium high heat.

Add your chopped onion and chopped garlic

I added some fresh thyme sprigs as well

Heat until onions are soft

 By now, your squash should be cool enough to handle

Spoon the flesh of the squash into the pan, use a potato masher to really mush up the squash.

I then added a couple of cups, approx, of milk 

About a cup and a half of veggie stock

1/4 cup, approx, of honey

Sea salt & pepper to your preference

I'll be honest, when I'm cooking, I tend to just pour this stuff right into the pan and don't always measure -thus all of the " about"s and " approx"s lol ;-)

It seems to work out pretty good for me so far, I'm sure once in a while I'll wish I had measured, but it hasn't happened yet ;-)

When I'm following a recipe I find online or get from a friend, I follow those measurements though.

I used my Braun hand held immersion blender to really make sure this was smooth, with no real chunks. I brought it to a boil on medium heat.

I then removed from heat but put the lid on left it to simmer like this for about an hour, not opening the lid so as to not let any of the heat out.

This was my first time just throwing something together myself and I think it really came out well! 

The one bummer is, I had intended on cooking one white sweet potato & adding that in and I forgot. So I will have to add that next time and see how it comes out :)

Overall though, I felt this was a success in my kitchen :)

Rainbow Chard Salad!

First time having Rainbow Chard!

Chard is actually a member of the beet family

Fresh tasty salad, makes a great side dish!

 What you'll need:

Olive Oil

White Wine Vinegar

A couple of mixing bowls

Italian seasoning (basically a mix of Thyme, Marjoram, Basil, Oregano, etc)

Canned or frozen corn

Salt & Pepper (I prefer Sea Salt)

Fresh Garlic-chopped

Either Red or Sweet yellow onion-chopped (I use sweet onion in everything I cook because I prefer it's flavor over red and because red onion or white onion can sometimes be too spicy for me)

Rainbow Chard (It is so pretty!!!)

 First, remove the leafy greens from the stems. 

Then you'll cut the stems into about 1/2" pieces

Coarsely chop the leaves & set them aside for now.

Place the stems in boiling water and let them cook about two mins

 Add your corn. Because I used frozen corn, I let this cook about two mins before I added the leaves.

 If you use canned corn, you can just add the corn and leaves at the same time. Let this cook 2-3 mins or until the stems are tender.

 Drain your mix and set aside for a few minutes

 Heat up some olive oil on medium heat & add your chopped onion and chopped garlic.

Add a splash of white wine vinegar & your seasonings.

You can also just use an Italian dressing instead of the olive oil/seasonings/vinegar.

Cook this until the onions begin to get tender. (about 2-4 mins)

Add your leaf/corn mix & cook this for two to three minutes, stirring frequently.

Remove from pan and let cool for a few minutes before enjoying!

I just ate it by itself, but this would be very good next to a roasted chicken breast

or some grilled fish :)

Jessy's Juice #19!

~Juicing with my power juicer express deluxe~

Increased vitamin C digestion lessens menstrual cramps

Peach, cilantro, parsley, Italian parsley, Sweet potato, cucumber, ginger root, broccoli, spinach, tomato, carrot

This made nearly 43 ozs of fresh, wholesome, juice!! I will admit, though, that this was not a very tasty concoction lol.. It had a very very green taste to it and the sweet potato did not add well to this combination.
With this juice, though, I had a goal-VITAMIN C!!!! I have read online that increased vitamin C intake during the week of your menstrual cycle can help relieve the cramping.
Up until last year I really didn't have to deal with cramping but when I had to stop taking oral contraceptives and get a copper IUD instead, it is accompanied by much worse cramping.
Every month, I have one or two days (I am lucky, I know there are people who have it far far worse!) of pretty heavy cramping. Last month I made a juice and for once I wish I had taken my boyfriend, Matt's advice & written it down. It had a lot of spinach and broccoli and it had two peaches and a bit of ginger root but I don't really remember what else. I may actually have a picture though come to think of it...
Anyhow, that was so delicious and I had read online that spinach is a natural muscle relaxant and that increased vitamin C will reduce the cramping. I drank that juice the first day I could feel the cramping start & I was fine that day & the following day!
This month, I waited to see whether I would have severs cramps or not (I wasn't sure if it was merely my body beginning to adjust to the IUD and therefore that month was just not as bad as the ones before had been) And sure enough, I was starting to have pretty bad cramps yesterday, so I made this juice with as much leafy green stuff as possible to get lots of Vitamin C & it worked, no cramping the rest of the day yesterday!
 But I need to figure out what the juice I made last month was because that tasted a bit like a peach smoothie with a hint of green taste, not enough to overpower the yumminess of the peach. It was very very tasty. This mix, not so much lol.. It was one of the only ones I've had to really force myself to drink.

Peach: boron, antioxidants, vitamin C & beta carotene
Cilantro: Thiamin, zinc, fiber, Vitamin A, C, E, K, B6, riboflavin, niacin, calcium, iron, magnesium, folate, pantothenic acid, potassium, phosphorus, copper & manganese
Parsley: antioxidants, folic acid, iron, Vitamin A & C
Sweet Potato: Fiber, Vitamin B6 & A, potassium, manganese
Tomato: Beta Carotene & Vitamin C
Blackberries: Vitamin E, C, K, folate, magnesium, potassium, copper, fiber & manganese
Ginger root: Vitamin C, manganese, magnesium, copper, potassium & a natural anti inflammatory
Celery: Riboflavin, Vitamin B6, K, C, A, pantothenic acid, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, manganese, folate
Carrots: Beta carotene, Vitamin A &C, pectin, flourine, potassium
Cucumber: Vitamin A, C, K, pantothenic acid, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, manganese
Broccoli: Beta carotene, Vitamin C, calcium, iron, folic acid & chromium
Kale: Antioxidants, calcium, iron, Vitamin A& C
Spinach: Antioxidants, potassium, iron, calcium & Vitamin C