yesterday
October 29, 2009 Okay, time to catch up on yesterday’s post! It started with a Green Monster built for 2!
- 1 pear
- 2-3c. spinach
- 1 Amazing Meal – Chocolate
- 1 banana
- 1 container Wallaby vanilla bean yogurt
- 1/4c. vanilla rice milk [any type of milk will work]
- 2 handfuls of ice
- Grind – Blend – Liquefy – Enjoy
After my delicious glass of GREEN, I headed to Boulder to go running with Laura.
I came prepared for a multitude of things we might want to do:
running clothes –> camera stuff –> change of clothes if we went anywhere –> computer to hang out and do work
We had an awesome 4+ mile run through her neighborhood + park. The weather was cloudy and 60*, perfecto! We came in from the run and had food on the brain. She made corn chowder, which sounded awesome….but what to pair with it?? Grilled cheese of course! We made a dash for Whole Foods to get bread + cheese. We were starving and tempted by SO much. I suggested a “fancy” grilled cheese, which Laura was totally down for. We got a fresh loaf of bread and we couldn’t escape the bakery case empty handed!
The Halloween cupcakes were just too cute! We got 1 to split. mmmm
Fancy grilled cheese:
- awesome loaf of bread – Something with a crusty exterior is perfect
- goat cheese
- pesto – [we used a roasted tomato pesto from the Olive Bar at WF…if your store has a salad bar or olive bar check there for getting small amounts of things you want to use in your recipes, instead of having to buy full jars!]
- sun dried tomatoes [also from the olive bar!]
- a little butta’ for the bread
- Panini press your samich until done! Or, a fry pan will work just fine.
I <3 natural light!
The corn chowder Laura made was awesome!!! A small sprinkle of bacon on top never hurt anyone ;)
All of the flavors worked so well together…a fabulous lunch!
With a little apple crunchiness on the side!
We were too stuffed to enjoy the cupcake together…Laura split it every so perfectly!
Cupcake photo shoot time…
We both ate it later that nite and emailed our opinions to each other [nerds!!]. We agreed it had a good consistency, and the frosting wasn’t overly sweet, but the flavor was reallly lacking. It was a vanilla cupcake with vanilla frosting, which is my FAVorite! Definitely needed a BIG kick of vanilla…I wouldn’t buy one again =(
But they were SO cute!
After I got home, Chris was washing and waxing the new car. We needed to get it waxed and ready for winter! I thought my arm was going to fall off from all the rubbing! I came in and devoured the cupcake…I needed some suga’
Too bad it started snowing about 1hr after we finished waxing the car. Didn’t get to enjoy it at all!!!
What’s for dinner???
Thai spiced pumpkin soup from 101 cookbooks! I used a baking pumpkin and a smallish butternut squash.
I cut the squash in quarters to cook a little quicker. I cooked them at 400* for about 35-40min. [soft to the touch]
I followed her recipe, but added fresh ground black pepper, and 2 chopped garlic cloves. I used low sodium veggie stock, instead of water, which helped give it flavor. I ended up putting in a total of 3tsp. of the red curry paste, for a perfect, medium heat. Natalie definitely added more..she likes it s.p.i.c.y.!!!
I also toasted some pumpkin + butternut squash seeds to sprinkle on top.
- wash and pat dry
- roast @ 300* for about 30-45min until dry + crunchy
For 1c. of seeds this is what I mixed up in a bowl:
- 2T butter
- 1/4tsp sea salt
- few shakes of ginger + cinnamon
- 1T brown sugar
- 1 shake ground cloves
- Melt the butter and combine with seasonings.
- Toss with pumpkin seeds
- Increase oven temp to 350* and toast for about 10-20min depending on how done you want them
They had a sweet/salty taste and worked well as a soup topper.
The soup was realllly tasty. I loved the smooth consistency. I do not have a hand/immersion blender, so I used a drink blender on the liquefy setting.
- I poured the soup from the pot into a large bowl
- Then poured half of the mixture into the blender and liquefied it
- Put that back in the pot
- Liquefied the other 1/2 and added that back to the pot
I made a side of my special coconut rice to mix in the soup. The flavors worked really well together and the rice helped make it more filling.
I used a new lens today. Well, it’s not new, but Chris just remembered that it might be awesome for food shots…and it is!! It’s a 50mm, f1.8…it is better in lower light, and I could instantly tell a difference! I am loving it..but getting used to it too. You can’t zoom in or out with this one!
All for now!
Ashley
Recipes, butternut squash, coconut, green monster, pumpkin, rice, soup 
