A Few of Our Favorite Things

I’m not sure if you can really see how beautiful and green this drink is, but it has become a favorite morning ritual for the past few months. Now heading into cooler temperatures, we’re not sure if we’ll continue much longer, but since it’s still working for us as our go to breakfast, we thought we’d share the recipe and tell you why we love it so much.

The basic recipe is:

Homemade almond milk or hazelnut milk (1 cup)

1/2 frozen banana

4-5 fresh or frozen organic strawberries

and/or 1/4 cup fresh or frozen organic blueberries

2 stems fresh kale (middle stem removed)

1 scoop vanilla sprouted rice protein (We use SunWarrior)

1 tablespoon hemp seeds or ground flax

Blend everything on high in your blender or Vitamix.

We also love Butternut Squash Soup. We make many versions of this soup – usually containing curry, vegetable or chicken broth, fresh ginger, shallots, and sometimes a little bit of fresh cream at the very end – though it is not necessary. The little specks you can see come from the spices and a little bit of freshly grated nutmeg.

The basics for this soup:

1 medium butternut squash (peeled, seeded and cubed)

1 medium sweet potato (or 2 if you like a sweeter flavor soup), peeled and cubed

1-2 carrots, chopped

2 medium shallots, chopped

1 inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and thinly sliced

2 tablespoons olive oil (of 1 T olive oil plus 1 T butter)

1 tablespoon curry powder

1 teaspoon thyme

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

6 cups low sodium vegetable broth or chicken broth

1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

Optional: Fresh cream for the top of each serving

Prepare butternut squash through carrots and set aside.

Add shallots, ginger and oil to a large stock pan and heat on medium high until shallots are fragrant and begin to wilt, stirring frequently so they don’t burn or scorch. Add squash, sweet potato and carrots and stir to coat. Stir for about 3 minutes then add curry powder through pepper and continue to stir another 5 minutes. Lower heat to low and add broth. Cover and simmer for 45 minutes to an hour or until squash and sweet potato are tender. Turn off heat and allow mixture to cool about 20 minutes. Then in smaller 2-3 cup increments add all of the mixture to a heat-proof blender and puree on low until desired consistency is reached. Alternatively you can use an immersion blender. Return the soup to the stock pot and add grated nutmeg, stirring until well mixed. Heat again on low for another 20 to 30 minutes. Turn off heat until ready to serve. This is delicious with just a small dollop of fresh cream on top.

Another thing we love is the fall. This is a great time to get outdoors, check out the colors; check out the freshly fallen leaves; take a hike in the first snow of the season; hop on your bike on a crispy morning; go apple picking; visit a corn maze or a pumpkin patch – there are just so many wonderful things going on. Put your garden to bed for the winter. Plant bulbs. Plant trees. Drink spiced cider.

Also, a reminder that as we are exposed to less overall sunlight as we move towards winter, we may benefit from a little extra vitamin D. Vitamin D will help support an overall stronger immune system and many people run low on this important vitamin without knowing it.

Keep checking back as we’re sure to update this post or add new ones with more of our favorite things.

October 17, 2011

by Optimum Wellness

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