Fall Butternut Squash Soup

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butternut soup 1

When the weather turns colder, I turn to more soups. I especially like making one on the weekend to take for my lunches at work that week. Here is one I whipped up recently:

  • 1 tbsp of coconut oil
  • 1 onion, sliced
  • 1 butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cubed
  • 1 carrot, chopped
  • 1 celery stalk, chopped
  • 1 apple, cored and sliced
  • chicken stock (reserved from my crockpot stock after roasting a chicken

butternut soup 2

  1. Melt coconut oil in big pot over medium heat.
  2. Add onion and stir frequently till soft, then add other vegetables as they get cut.
  3. Add the chicken stock to cover all the veggies and fruit.
  4. Bring to a boil and simmer until all veggies are soft.
  5. Remove from heat and blend with a hand blender or in batches in a food processor.

Enjoy!

 

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5 Must’s that are easily forgotten

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Imagine a house built without a solid foundation.  When the first big storm hits it will be blown apart.  Milder storms will rock it on the skimpy stilts.

People like the big wow.  We like to watch athletes perform at their best.  We are amazed when we see our colleague after losing 50 lbs.  But we don’t like watching how their got there.  For most, that parts boring.

Athletes spend a lot of time training for the big event.  They injure themselves and get back to it.  They grind away until becomes second nature.  There isn’t much glory in that 95% but it is what allows them to wow us with the other 5%.

Health , fertility, weight loss, fitness  – all of these goals require the same basic training.  It is the daily grind that will create the foundation so that when life gets crazy (because we know that it will) we won’t fall off the proverbial wagon.

Consider the following your basic training.  Your daily list that should take precedence over just about everything:

1.  Breath.  This seems so simple yet most people don’t take even one full breath a day.  Take 10 minutes and just breath.  Feel the hairs just below your nostrils move while the air goes in and out.

2.  Eat.  Again, seems straight forward enough eh?  Yet how many of us start the day with a coffee and don’t stop until mid afternoon to put food in our mouths?  Stop and take the 10 minutes required to eat three meals a day.

3.  Eat food.  Once you have the hang of actually eating, try eating actual food.  Not the kind of food that comes out of a window, frozen package or plastic/cardboard packaging.  Real food like fruit, veggies, fish, barley, rice, nuts and seeds.

4.  Move.  Exercise is what our bodies are meant for.  Walk, ride, take a class or just turn up the radio and have a 15 minute dance party in your living room.  It all counts.

5.  Rest.  Stress and rest build resilience.  Stress without rest creates injury and burn out.  Getting enough (minimum 7 hours) quality (not waking during the night) sleep is vital to your weight, mood, and overall quality of life.

Once these basics are covered, then you add in some supplements, herbs, acupuncture, and other therapies to augment your health.  But until your bases are covered, the rest is just not going to have the impact that you’re hoping for.

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Gluten free granola bar recipe

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granola bars

At last I have made a school friendly granola bar that I am happy to see my boy love.

Store bought granola bars tend to be filled with sugar and rarely don’t have wheat in them.  The gluten-free bars are often very high in sugar and mostly void of fibre.

Here is the recipe that I concocted to make some delicious ones at home.

  • 1 cup quick oats, 2/3 cup rolled oats
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 cup mini semi sweet chocolate chips
  • 1/2 cup hemp hearts
  • 1/2 cup raisins
  • 1 cup gluten free Rice Krispies
  • 1/3 cup oat flour
  • 6 Tbsp oil (olive or coconut)
  • 3 Tbsp honey
  • 2 tsp vanilla
  • 1/3 cup pumpkin seed butter, heated until smooth
  1. Pre heat the oven to 350 degrees.  Spray an 8×8 pan with oil then line it with parchment paper that hangs over all edges.
  2. In a large bowl, combine all of the dry ingredients.
  3. In a smaller bowl, combine the oil, honey, vanilla and heated pumpkin seed butter.
  4. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir until well combined.
  5. Pour the mixture into the pan.  Use an oiled spatula or oiled waxed paper to press the mixture firmly into the pan.
  6. Bake for 30-40 minutes (until the edges just start to turn brown), remove and place on cooling rack.  Do not attempt to remove the granola bars or cut them until they are well cooled.  In fact, place them into the fridge or freezer for a few minutes to firm them up before cutting.
  7. These freeze really well.

Enjoy 🙂

Edit March 8/15: my son asked for granola bars that look like the Nature’s Path ones. They are not as thick as these. So I followed the recipe, but instead used a larger pan and cut the time down to 15 minutes. Worked like a charm!

 

Dr. Kerri

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Easy Chicken Roasted in a Crock Pot

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As I write this at the clinic, I have a chicken cooking at home. I love that when I get home from work tonight, my meal will be mostly ready. All I will need to do is steam some green beans and maybe have some corn on the cob because it’s in season. I have cooked small chickens in the oven before but I always worried it wasn’t cooked all the way through. Since this is cooked in the crock pot, the juices stay inside and it doesn’t dry out while I can leave it for the length of time required and I know it will be done. The skin doesn’t get crispy but we try not to eat a lot of the skin anyway because of it’s high fat content. Try it at home with an organic or free range chicken. We got ours from the Warwick Hughs Food Market  http://whfoodmarket.foodpages.ca/ The chicken itself came from Edencrest Farms: http://www.edencrestfarms.com/

INGREDIENTS
  • 2 teaspoons paprika
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon onion powder
  • 1 teaspoon thyme
  • ½ teaspoon garlic powder
  • ¼ teaspoon cayenne (red) pepper
  • ¼ teaspoon black pepper
  • 1 onion
  • 1 large chicken
 INSTRUCTIONS
  1. Combine the dried spices in a small bowl.
  2. Loosely chop the onion and place it in the bottom of the slow cooker.
  3. Remove any giblets from the chicken and then rub the spice mixture all over. You can even put some of the spices inside the cavity and under the skin covering the breasts.
  4. Put prepared chicken on top of the onions in the slow cooker, cover it, and turn it on to high. There is no need to add any liquid.
  5. Cook for 4 – 5 hours on high (for a 3 or 4 pound chicken) or until the chicken is falling off the bone. Or cook on low 8-9 hours. Don’t forget to make your home-made chicken stock from the bones! ( I throw water, salt, thyme, carrots, onions, peppercorns and celery in the pot and let it cook on low over night with the bones)

Thanks to this source for the recipe:

http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2011/02/25/recipe-the-best-whole-chicken-in-a-crock-pot/

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Food and Mood

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What we eat affects our mood.  This is well documented.

So how about we pay attention to how we feel after we eat and less on what we weigh?

I would bet that if you start eating for how you feel afterwards that the weight will naturally take care of itself.

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