Blogs from a no-longer home sick aussie!: October 2010

Fall is here ALREADY! Boy this year has gone by fast.....No big suprise but i cant wait for this year to be done with and start over fresh! It has not been my year... Anyway Fall is my most fav time of year?!?! Why? The leaves change colours, the weather gets cooler, LOTS of things to do with apples! Apple cider, apple donuts, apple cheese fritters and so on! Not to mention the gorgeous decorations for fall! I love it! Unfortunately i will not be decorating this year... I do have some good news to share i supose! I PASSED my US Citizenship test! Woohoo! I have not had my ceremony yet though i will have pictures when that happens! So it has been pretty busy around here lately though! We had our first family camping trip! I will post about that but lets just say the tent was NOT water proof and we sorta had a few soggy days!

We have been catching up and spending time with friends and family! Lochlan played soccer this season and Hubby helped coach the team so we have been busy with that also! We planned for a bonfire with friends and family but the rain seems to like to fall on our parade...lol first camping...then the bonfire! BUT we had a great time (inside) either way! I have been busy cooking like crazy YES i have been taking photos! I am ready to take the plunge back into bloggy land!

Although i have about 30 posts that i have started (up loaded pics to each post and jotted down the ingredients to said recipes!) but i just havent had the get up n go to finish them off and publish them!

In between all of this stuff i have been doing lots of researching concerning what to and what not to put into mine and my families bodies food wise! I have also decided that this is the FIRST year since arriving in the US that we will NOT be par taking in getting flu shots this year! I am proud to annouce this! I am taking a natural route to staying healthy for what part of the flu season we will be around for! Also i have to admit the only chemical medicine wise that i am currently taking is benadryl and thats only when my psoriasis is driving me crazy! Im using all organic and natural lotions and soaps to help sooth my skin also and i have to admit i am shocked at how well i am doing! I also think trying to be stress free helps too! I have rid my pantry of some of the nasty things i use to use! Like white flour, white sugar, vegetable oil, shortening(YUCK)! and store baught meats! I will get into more of why the overhaul in the next few posts. Doing this has not made our budget change much at all really it can be done and done on an everyday budget!

Now onto this most delish soup! I grew up HATING butternut squash soup... I HATED it.... it was awful in my eyes... but as i got older my taste buds have most definately changed! I must admit foods i absolutely hated growing up have now become foods i enjoy! I guess my taste buds grew up :P lol Anyway you can find a different version of the same style soup here.

What i used!

1 medium sized butternut squash

3 sweet potato squash(click link to see what these beauties look like)

1 teaspoon of ginger powder

2 Tablespoons of garlic powder

2 cups of chicken stock

1 can of coconut milk (i used light coconut milk)

1 Tablespoon of dried cilantro

1 Tablespoon of dried parsley

1 teaspoon of salt

Olive Oil

Preheat the oven to 350

What i did!

First i washed all of my squashes as they were frommy garden and kinda muddy LOL. then i peeled them and sliced them in chunks! Placed them in a large ziplock baggie. Once the bag was full i added enough olive oil to caot these lovely pieces! Then i added the ginger, garlic and salt, tossed it all around then emptyed out the entire contents of the baggie into a large glass baking dish! I placed it in the preheated oven and checked on them every once in a while. When the squash was tender enough to smash it with spoon i knew it was done! (sorry no exact time i was busy doing other things) i smashed the squash with a fork made sure it was nice and smooth. In the pot on the stove i poured in the chicken stock, dried cilantro and parsely, bringin the stock up to bubbling then turning it to a simmer i slowly started adding the coconut milk making sure it wasnt to hot when added as you dont want the coconut milk to curdle. Once the liquids ahd simmered a good 15mins i then added in the smashed squash bringin up the temp slowly once everything was good and hot i turned off the burned and placed the lid on and let it sit a good 10mins. After 10mins i used my hand held blender and wizzed it threw the soup to make it thick and creamy!

I served this DELISH soup with garlic naan! The boys absolutely LOVED it! How do i know? They didnt have much to say other then mmmmm's and yummmms! And they ate dinner quickly! It was definately a hit!