This Creamy Butternut Squash Soup is super easy, quick and packed with veggies that your kids will eat up and then ask for seconds. D is pretty picky with his veggies - as most kids are...But he LOVES this soup! 

Little does he know muahahahaaaaaa! ;)

I have pretty much found the holy grail of vegetable intake for him. Woot woot!

I have a little obsession with my Vitamix blender that I received as a gift for my birthday.
We use it in our house on a daily basis. BEST blender ever!!!
My perfect little blending machine inspired this soup.

So smooth and tasty. Yum Yum. Enjoy it as a side dish or as a Main.

I hope your family loves it as much as mine does.
Eat Up and Enjoy!

Ingredients

2 tsp coconut oil (organic cold pressed)

1 tsp minced garlic
1 butternut squash peeled and chopped into chunks

2 cups carrots peeled and chopped into chunks
1 cup leeks sliced
1 cup onion chopped
4 cups chicken broth
1/4 cup sliced almonds (optional)
Salt and pepper to taste.

Directions

Over low medium heat in a large saucepan, melt the coconut oil until dissolved.

Add the garlic, butternut squash, carrots, leeks, onion, sliced almonds and 2 cups of the chicken broth.
Bring to a boil over medium high heat until the vegetables are cooked through stirring frequently.Once vegetables are cooked through remove from heat and let cool for 5 minutes.

Add the remaining 2 cups of chicken broth. Using a hand blender, blend ingredients until smooth and creamy. Serve it up with a sprinkle of almond slices (optional).

D helping mommy still up the pot full of veggies.
What a great little helper.

They had a sale on bocconcini cheese the other day, so I decided to use it in a pasta salad last night.  Cheese and pasta?  Yes, please!!!

This is the first year that we’ve had a vegetable garden in our back yard, and we’re finally starting to see some payoff for all of the hard work that goes into it…  And by that, I mean my husband’s hard work is finally paying off!

What's amazing is that we didn't kill it immediately...

I’ve never been that picky of an eater, but have only fairly recently started to really enjoy vegetables.  And let me tell you, there is something truly awesome about being able to go out into the garden while I’m getting supper ready, and picking a few herbs or veggies.  And it has made Hubs so very happy to have a project to do this summer!

So, we garden now.  No big deal.

This salad should take about twenty minutes or so to make, and it’s truly worth it.  In my humble opinion, it’s lovely!  

Ingredients

1 Box or bag of Pasta (about 450 grams or so, whatever kind you like)

1 Cup fresh spinach

½ Cup fresh basil

½ Cup finely diced tomatoes

½ Cup finely diced peppers (any kind)

⅓ Cup finely diced green or red onions (or chives if preferred)

1 200 gram container bocconcini cheese

2 Tbsp olive oil

⅓ Cup prepared pesto

Fresh pepper and salt to taste
 

Directions

• Prepare pasta as per box directions - for some reason I always cook my pasta one or two minutes longer than the “al dente” directions when making pasta salad
• Meanwhile, coarsely chop spinach and basil and pour in large bowl - I love big chunks of basil, but you might like to chop a bit finer if you don’t

  

  Fresh, fresh, fresh!

• Add chopped veggies to spinach and basil, toss to combine
• Chop bocconcini to desired size and add to veggies - I cut mine into eighths
• Once pasta is ready, strain and run cold water over it until it’s cool
• Add pasta to large bowl and toss to combine
• Add olive oil to bowl of pasta and veggies
• Add pesto to bowl, and toss well to combine - my pesto was very thick, so I nuked it for about 30 seconds to make it easier to stir

  

  So good!

• Add salt and fresh pepper to taste

n.b.: You can substitute any kind of cheese you like if you’re not a fan of bocconcini.  I like it in this salad because it’s so mild you can really taste the freshness of the basil and veggies.  I have used feta in this salad before, and it was good too - though you’d probably want to adjust your salt accordingly, since feta is quite strong and salty.

Keep eating, keep smiling:)

I've been tinkering with a few recipes lately, trying to find ways to make homemade muffins taste great without using any oil or butter.  These are great, and super easy to boot.  You can adjust the recipe to include raisins or nuts, or whatever floats your boat.

 

Bonus: M loves them for breakfast, so all I need to do is defrost one for 30 seconds, and the chances that I might be able to enjoy a few sips of hot coffee greatly improve while he's busy eating.  It's the little things:



Morning Face Stuffing

Ingredients

2 Cups of quick oats (not instant)

1 Cup of all purpose flour

1 Tsp. baking powder

1 Tsp. baking soda

1/2 Tsp. salt

1 Tsp. cinnamon

2 Cups of unsweetened apple sauce

1/2 Cup brown sugar

2 Eggs

1 Tbsp vanilla extract
 

Directions

• Preheat oven to 375 Fahrenheit.
• Mix the dry ingredients.
• Mix the wet ingredients.
• Mix it all together.
• Spoon mixture into muffin tray and bake until muffin tops (!!) are golden brown, about 22 minutes.

Makes approximately 12 regular sized muffins.

Once muffins are cool,  store in an airtight container for up to three days in the fridge.  These also freeze really well, so are super easy for quick on the go snacks.  

I once forgot to add the sugar to this recipe, and M still ate it and liked it.  I wanted to sprinkle cinnamon sugar on top of the butter I smeared on mine but restrained myself.  Lesson learned: with sugar = better!

Keep eating, keep smiling:)