Butternut Squash and Black Bean Enchiladas

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I am loving the stream of recipes that deliciously appear in my Facebook news feed.  My Facebook friends share the best recipes!  All of the food looks so gorgeous there on my screen, but so far I haven't made anything.  Similarly, I have 3200+ food-related pins on my Pinterest page with the best intentions of making every single one, I swear, but so far have only made about three of them.  So, a few days ago I saw this recipe, went to the store to buy the ingredients, made, and ate it all in the same day.  And it was great.  All of that effort and then I wait to blog about it two weeks later - ha!

We don't eat a lot of vegetarian dishes in our house, but with this one we didn't even miss the meat.  Although, we did agree that shredded chicken would have been a great addition if we wanted to add some extra protein next time.  These enchiladas are butternut squash, black beans, and cheese in a spicy creamy-tomato chipotle sauce, all topped with sour cream and sliced avocado.  Cilantro would have been a great addition (if the Hubby didn't despise it so).  Leftovers were even better than the first time around.

Here's your ingredient line-up!

I used these medium-sized package of 8 flour tortillas

I've always wondered the easiest way to cube a butternut squash, and this time I actually Googled it and found this helpful video.  This is so much easier than the way I was doing it before, so it's worth a quick watch!

For a printer-friendly version of any recipe, simply click 'Print' below the title of any blog post. Voila - a clean recipe without my ramblings or any pictures!

One Year Ago:  Parsnip and Carrot Puree
Two Years Ago:  Easy Refried Bean Soup
Three Years Ago:  Healthy Southwest Chicken and Rice Bake
Four Years Ago:  Thanksgiving 2012
Five Years Ago:  Chicken Cacciatore

Chipotle Butternut Squash and Black Bean Enchiladas

Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 2 cups tomato sauce
• 2 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce (I used about 1 teaspoon of sauce and the 2 peppers)
• 3/4 cup plain Greek yogurt
• 4 cloves minced garlic, divided (2 for the sauce and 2 for the filling)
• 1 1/2 tablespoons chili powder
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 4 cups cubed butternut squash (about 1/2 a medium-sized butternut squash, or a little over a pound)
• 1 - 18oz. can black beans, drained, rinsed, then drained again
• 3/4 cup corn (frozen or fresh)
• salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
• 2 cups shredded Tex Mex cheese blend, divided
• 8 medium-sized flour tortillas
• For topping: sour cream, sliced avocado, sliced green onions, and cilantro

Directions
In a food processor, combine tomato sauce, chipotle peppers, adobo sauce, yogurt, 2 cloves minced garlic, and chili powder, and whir together until well blended.  Set enchilada sauce aside.

Preheat oven to 350F.  In a large skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat.  Add onion and remaining 2 cloves of minced garlic, and cook until soft, about 5 minutes.  Add squash, cover skillet, and continue cooking (stirring occasionally) until fork-tender, about 8 minutes.  Reduce heat to low, then add beans, corn, salt and pepper, and 1 cup of enchilada sauce.  Stir until heated and combined, then remove from heat.

Grease a 9x13-inch baking dish, then smear the bottom of the dish with 3/4 cup of enchilada sauce.  Scoop 3/4 cup of squash mixture into one of the flour tortillas, then sprinkle 1 tablespoon of cheese on top, roll up, and place seam-side down into the baking dish.  Repeat with the remaining tortillas, using up all of the squash mixture.



Pour remaining enchilada sauce over top, and sprinkle with remaining cheese.  Bake for 25 - 30 minutes, or until cheese is bubbling.  Top with sour cream, sliced avocado, green onions, and cilantro.  Enjoy!  

Recipe Source:  Ambitious Kitchen

Tuscan Vegetable Soup

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Anther vegan recipe on the blog...who am I with this fake detox where I still get to drink wine and eat Girl Guide Cookies?!

This soup is great on its own, but its also great as a base recipe that you can play around with.  So, sure - get trendy and use kale instead of spinach!  Substitute chicken broth for the beef broth if it makes you feel like a free-wheelin' babe!  YOLO it with chickpeas instead of canellini beans!  You can do what you want, and the main idea would be similar and delicious.

Look at the rainbow of beautiful vegetables in mine!

On a completely different topic, it's been a year since I became a runner and I've never really mentioned it on this blog because I guess I was scared it wouldn't stick.  But, it has stuck and I guess I'm a runner now, and here are a few of my thoughts on it.

I was never a runner.  I was the girl in high school that got winded and nauseous and felt like I was going to keel over in Physical Education class when we had to run a lap of the track.  But back then I didn't really have to have any physical activity in my life and could eat whatever the heck I wanted and still be twig-like.  I still think that Nutrition should be a semester-long class taught in today's high schools.  Nowadays, in the words of my childhood orthodontist, Mother Nature's goal is to "turn a pretty girl ugly."  I found out the hard way that if you don't wear your bottom retainer every night your teeth will go crooked again, and also that as it turns out metabolism becoming slower with age is a thing.  And here we are.

It all started for me because the location of my office building in downtown Vancouver is right on the most gorgeous stretch of seawall in North America, and right beside the 2014 Best Park In The World (according to Trip Advisor).  From my office window I can see hundreds of runners every day just running all the time - before work, on their lunch breaks, and as the sun is going down.  Seeing this every day (even on Vancouver's rainiest days) was enough to make me feel like I should be doing something like that too.  After all, it can't get any easier than throwing on your runners (Canadian word for sneakers; I've been told it's not used in other countries?!) and walking a block.  The only problem was that, just like when I was back in high school, I 'could not' run.

So, back in May 2014 I downloaded the '5K Runner' iPhone app by ClearSky Apps.  In 8 weeks it promised to take me from the couch to a 5K race.  I was doubtful, but decided to give it a try.  The app gets you doing a combination of run/walk intervals three times a week, until eventually on the last day of the eighth week, you can magically run for 35 minutes without stopping.  I couldn't believe that it worked, but it did.  From there, I wanted to keep going with their program and so I downloaded their '5K Forever' app, which helped to improve my time with walk/run speed intervals over the next eight weeks.  I was on a roll at that point, so I downloaded the '10K Runner' app, and six weeks later I was able to run for an hour without stopping.  After that I participated in our local 10K Terry Fox Run in September 2014 (with my mom, who is my role model in many things, including running), the 10K Turkey Trot for Thanksgiving 2014 (with my friend Ashley and a horrible head cold), and coming up this weekend I'm participating on my office team in Canada's biggest 10K run, the Vancouver Sun Run.

There were a few things to overcome along the way, namely the following:  the wobbly feeling of my butt always running a few steps behind me (catch up, butt!), the commitment to run three times a week in rain or shine or snow (and when it rains and snows, that promise to myself that I can't break totally sucks), Netflix, the amazing smell of popcorn being sold along the Stanley Park Seawall as I run past and can't eat it, knee issues resulting in multiple trips to the physiotherapist, and an Imposter Syndrome that I've been harbouring since my youth.  But I did it.

Nowadays I trail run with my mom, I run the Vancouver Seawall with friends, and I run on my treadmill at home.  I'm proud (yes, proud!) to say that it's now a very healthy part of my life.  Some wonderful side effects have been a 20 pound weight loss over 12 months, finding strength and feeling good, muscle definition in my legs for the first time in my life, and an amazing feeling of self accomplishment.  I run for these things, but I also run for wine and cheese and pasta and health and vanity and better fitting jeans. But the best side effect of running so far has been the ability to completely silence my mind to almost everything else and just concentrate on the matter at hand - running.  Some people think when they run; for me it's the only time in my life when my head is totally clear, and I have found that I crave that.  There is a wonderful piece from The Oatmeal that totally speaks to me on this topic, with my favourite line being, "I run very fast because I desperately want to stand very still."  It's not about the butt, it's about the brain.  If you are a runner and have some time, click on the link and have a look...it's worth the read.

I recently went back to my high school track, and ran around it 28 times without stopping, just to prove to myself that I could.  The high school version of me would have been impressed.


OK, back to the soup...

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One Year Ago:  Classic Spinach Dip in Bread Bowl
Two Years Ago:  Chicken and Broccoli Casserole in Creamy Curry Sauce
Three Years Ago:  8-Layered Greek Dip

Tuscan Vegetable Soup

Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 1 (15 to 19-ounce) can canellini beans (white kidney beans), drained and rinsed
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 large red onion, diced (about 1 cup)
• 2 carrots, diced (about 1/2 cup)
• 2 stalks celery, diced (about 1/2 cup)
• 1 small zucchini, diced (about 1 1/2 cups)
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme (or use 1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme leaves)
• 1/2 teaspoon dried sage leaves (or use 2 teaspoons chopped fresh sage leaves)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 4 cups low-sodium broth (beef or chicken or vegetable broth is fine)
• 1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes
• 2 cups baby spinach leaves

Directions
In a small bowl, mash 1/2 of the canellini beans with a potato masher, and set aside.

Heat the olive oil in a large soup pot over medium-high heat.  Add the onion, carrots, celery, zucchini, garlic, thyme, sage, salt, and pepper.  Cook, stirring occasionally until the vegetables are soft, about 5 minutes.

Add the broth and tomatoes with their juice, then bring to a boil over high heat.  Add the beans (whole beans and mashed beans), and the spinach leaves, then cook until the spinach is wilted, about 3 minutes.

Enjoy!

Recipe Source: Tuscan Vegetable Soup Recipe - Food Network

Kale, Shrimp, and Chickpea Pitas

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So I'm officially in Detox Mode 3000.

Actually make that 6000.

Actually let's amend that to 2000 (I forgot that I drank a bottle of wine last night).

First a trip to San Francisco to visit an old gal pal for 4 nights (so fun!  why doesn't she live closer!  damn geography!  all we did was eat and drink and repeat!)

The Hubby was whooping it up in Phoenix with a friend at the same time.

Then with less than 10 days turnaround, we took a trip with my parents to New Orleans for 5 nights (so fun!  why is my next vacation so far away!  all we did was eat very deep fried food, and drink, and repeat!).

It was our fourth time in New Orleans in the past 4.5 years, so I guess you could say that we are basically Southerners now.  Because Southerners usually like to spend an entire afternoon in New Orleans watching two Canadian hockey teams play against each other in an Irish bar with the afternoon's climax being when the entire bar sings the Canadian National Anthem in unison.  True story.  It was a great day.

Anyways, I'm basically 700 pounds heavier than I was a month ago (well, remove two zeros, but STILL), and I want my pants to fit again!  The Hubby must feel the same way because the lunches he has taken to work this week have consisted of the following:  raw broccoli, raw cauliflower, ranch dip, banana.  Exciting!  We also have a new evening ritual three times a week when Big Brother Canada is on, where we go into his Man-Cave in the basement and he rides the stationary bike and I walk or run on the treadmill beside him.  It's quite quaint.  Couples who play together stay together?  Ha!

I thought these healthy Kale, Shrimp, and Chickpea Pitas would also help us on our quest to remove the unwanted poundage.  The Hubby freaked out a little bit at the idea of eating kale, but in the end even he was gobbling these pitas down.  I used prawns, but the original recipe from Food Network called for shrimp.  The filling has grape tomatoes and some finely chopped red onion, but you could really mix it up however you wanted, and it would be great.  The lemony-garlicky dressing really makes these pita pockets delish!  Everything tastes very fresh and healthy and nom nom nom!  Oh, and I think they took me about 11 minutes to make, which makes Megan and happy girl on a weeknight when the hangry-ness tends to settle in quickly.

I'm going to keep the detox train going with a healthy Tuscan Vegetable Soup coming up on the blog later this week.  Choo choo!



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One Year Ago:  Curry Coconut Chicken Vegetable Soup
Two Years Ago:  Cookies and Cream Cheesecake Bars
Three Years Ago: Classic Creamy Hummus

Kale, Prawn, and Chickpea Pitas

Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup plain low-fat yogurt (don't accidentally buy vanilla!)
• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 1 garlic clove, finely grated
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 small bunch kale, stems removed and leaves thinly sliced (or use baby kale)
• 3/4 pound medium shrimp (or prawns), peeled and deveined
• Freshly ground pepper
• 1 15-ounce can chickpeas, drained, rinsed, and patted dry
• 1 pint grape tomatoes, halved
• 1/4 small red onion, thinly sliced
• 4 pieces pita pockets, halved

Directions
In a large boil, whisk together the yogurt, 2 1/2 tablespoons of the olive oil, the lemon juice, garlic, salt, and cayenne pepper.  Add the kale and toss with tongs to coat.  Set aside at room temperature while you make the rest of the filling.

Heat the remaining 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil in a pan over medium heat.  Add the shrimp, sprinkle with some freshly ground pepper, and cook until no longer pink, about 4 minutes.  Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly.



Add the chickpeas, tomatoes, red onion, and shrimp to the bowl with the kale, and toss gently with the tongs to coat everything well.



To prepare the pita pockets, stack them on a plate and microwave for about 30 seconds until warm.  This will also make them easier to open.  Fill the pitas with the kale-shrimp mixture.  Enjoy!

Recipe Source:  Food Network - Kale and Shrimp Pitas

Vegetarian Yam and Black Bean Stew

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It's been nice and warm in Western Canada, but on the eastern part of the country they haven't been so lucky.  Why must it unfairly snow all the way into April over on the east coast, while on the west coast we haven't seen snow all year (and crocuses have been out of the ground and cherry blossoms in bloom since February)?  I don't know, I don't know.  This comfort food recipe is for the east coasters (you're welcome).  Of course, you can still enjoy it in Spring weather too!

I love when I'm eating something and I know that not only does it taste good, but it's wholesome and nutritious.  This Vegetarian Yam and Black Bean Stew has chili and soup-like components, and I love the chunks of fresh yam.

This recipe came to me from a girl who I work with named Jenna, who you may remember from Mango and Black Bean Quinoa Salad fame.  Jenna eats a dairy-free and gluten-free diet, so her recipes follow the same dietary restrictions or can be modified easily (for instance, in this recipe you can substitute the all-purpose flour for gluten-free flour, or just eliminate it altogether). What they aren't missing is taste, flavour, and colour.  I've told her to keep the recipes coming, because they are keepers!

Happy one week belated Easter!

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One Year Ago:  Curried Coconut Chicken Vegetable Soup
Two Years Ago:  Spinach Quinoa Salad with Grapefruit
Three Years Ago:  Greek Quinoa Salad



Yam and Black Bean Stew

Serves:  4

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 green pepper (seeds and stem removed), chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• 1 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• Pinch of crushed red chili flakes
• 3 cups peeled and cubed yams
• 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed well
• 1 can diced tomatoes
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 1 tablespoon flour
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• 3 green onions, thinly sliced (for garnish)

Directions
Heat oil in large pot over medium heat.  Add onion and green pepper and cook for 4 - 5 minutes, until tender.  Add the garlic, chili powder, cumin, oregano, and chili flakes, and cook for 3 minutes longer. Add the yams, beans, tomatoes, tomato pasts, broth, flour, salt, and pepper, and bring to a gentle simmer.  Simmer 10 - 15 minutes, until yams are tender.  Adjust seasonings as desired.  To serve, sprinkle with sliced green onions.

Enjoy!

Recipe Source:  Jenna!

Slow Cooker Creamy Santa Fe Chicken

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Oh, I looooooooove it when you don't have to pre-cook the ingredients going into the slow cooker before throwing them into the slow cooker!  This recipe does just that.  No browning, sautéing, or otherwise prepping of meat or vegetables...you just toss 'em into the Crockpot and you are on your merry way.  Which is the way that I feel it should be for slow cookers.

Oops, I did it again!  Another completely unappetizing picture of a total delicious meal. 

This was another winner from the Best of Bridge cookbook series.  The flavours of chicken, beans, and corn in a rich and creamy salsa and cream cheese sauce were oh so good overtop of white rice and served with a side salad.  My rice of choice is always jasmine (even though it's more frequently used in Asian cooking) because it has such great flavour.

This meal served The Hubby and me as the perfect weeknight dish on a cold rainy winter night.  This recipe is a definite keeper, and we will be making it again soon.

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One Year Ago:  Butternut Squash, Italian Sausage, and Spinach Pasta
Two Years Ago:  Creamy Roasted Garlic, Caramelized Onion, and Bacon Soup
Three Years Ago:  Tomato and Italian Sausage Risotto

Slow Cooker Creamy Sante Fa Chicken

Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 8 boneless skinless chicken thighs, cut into bite-sized chunks
• 1 can black beans (14 to 19oz.), drained and rinsed
• 1 cup corn kernels (frozen, canned, or fresh)
• 1 cup salsa
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 2 teaspoons cider vinegar
• 2 ounces cream cheese, cubed and softened
• 4 green onions, chopped

Directions
In a slow cooker, add chicken, beans, corn, salsa, tomato paste, and salt, and give everything a good stir.  Cook on low for 5 - 6 hours, or on high for 2 1/2 to 3 hours.  In a small bowl, stir together the chili powder and vinegar until smooth.  Add the mixture to the slow cooker, along with the cream cheese.  Continue to cook on high for another 15 minutes until the cheese is melted, then stir again.

Serve over rice and top with green onions.  Enjoy!




Recipe Source:  Best of Bridge Slow Cooker Cookbook - Creamy Chicken Santa Fe

Easy Refried Bean Soup

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Do you ever buy an entire case of refried beans at a time from Costco?   Ha ha, yeah, me neither obviously! *looks awkwardly at floor.*  But if you have, this is a good soup for you to use them up.

This is one of my mom's recipes, and it's sort of like a cross between a vegetarian chili and a soup, with a smoothness because of the refried beans.  It makes for a very filling meal, packed with taste.  The best part?  It's the easiest soup I have ever made in my life.  Basically all you do is open some cans...

They had a Western Family brand sale...
and then I made a pyramid of cans.

And, well, that's nearly it.  It's that simple.

Now you do it!


One Year Ago: My Dad's Teriyaki Salmon Recipe
Two Years Ago: Triple Coconut Banana Muffins (Paleo / Gluten-Free)

For a printer-friendly version of any recipe, simply click 'Print' below the title of any blog post. Voila - a clean recipe without my ramblings or any pictures!



Refried Bean Soup

Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 1 large onion (or 1 cup), chopped
• 1 green bell pepper (or 1 cup), chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 can (14.5 oz.) Mexican-style stewed tomatoes
• 1 can (15.5 oz.) black beans, drained and rinsed well
• 1 can (15.5 oz.) red kidney beans, drained and rinsed well
• 1 can (16 oz.) refried beans
• 1/4 teaspoon cumin
• Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• Sour cream, cilantro, and taco chips for garnish (optional)

Directions
Heat the olive oil in a soup pot over medium-high heat, and add the onion and bell pepper.  Cook for 2 - 3 minutes, or until the vegetables are tender.  Add the garlic, broth, and tomatoes, and stir.  Raise the heat to high, and add the black beans, kidney beans, refried beans, and cumin.  Stir well.  Cover the pot and let the soup come to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and stir occasionally for 5 - 7 minutes or until ready to serve.

Recipe Source:  My mom!

Mango and Black Bean Quinoa Salad

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"You can't have the Mango!" - Mango, SNL

I feel like I already know the answer to this question, but does anyone else think of Mango, the short-lived mid-90's Chris Kattan character from SNL, whenever they see a mango?  Just me again?  Wow - every time!  Well, here are some classic Mango quotes anyway:

"Can you catch a falling star without burning your hand?  Can you put the sky in your mouth?  Can you say to an earthquake, 'Hey, hold still for a second?'  No!  Such is Mango." - Mango

"Can you know the mighty ocean?  Can you lasso a star from the sky?  Can you say to a rainbow, 'Hey, stop being a rainbow for a second?'  No!  Such is Mango" - Mango

"No Mango for you!  Why must I be Mango?  Why I ask?  Why God, why?  Why can't I be someone normal like John Ritter?  Mango is like a drug.  You must have more and more and more of the Mango until there is no Mango left.  Not even for Mango!" - Mango

So those are the quotes that I think of when I look at or taste a mango, every time!!  I just look at a mango and I have a little chuckle to myself.

Weeknight No-Brainer BBQ Chicken Salad

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The Hubby and I were recently in New Orleans for ten days for a combination of work and pleasure, and so it's pretty much been deep-fried catfish, and deep-fried shrimp po'boys, and deep-fried french fries and deep-fried chicken, and deep-fried crawfish, and deep-fried bacon (didn't even know this was a thing!), and deep fried chicken wings, and deep fried boudin, and deep-friend beignets, and even deep-fried pickles, jalapeños, and mushrooms.

One time I tried to be healthy and ordered a salad, and the only vegetable on my plate was 11 sprigs of arugula topped with fried green tomatoes, huge croutons, bacon, and a creamy dressing.  Another time The Hubby ordered a 1/2 sandwich, and what arrived was the biggest sandwich I've ever seen in my life.  I told the waitress that there was an error because we only ordered the half-size, to which she laughed and told me that was the half-size.  Makes sense, since it was the size of a small baby.  We were doomed a delicious, delicious fate.  Which leaves my waist-line in a bit of a predicament because The Hubby and I are off to our friend April's wedding at an all-inclusive in Mazatlan in just a little over a week, and I'm pretty sure that appropriate sun-bathing attire isn't my most comfortable pair of extra-large pyjamas.

Slow Cooker Beef Chili Rice Bowl

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The Hubby put a new cookbook into my Christmas stocking this year - the 'Best of Bridge' Slow Cooker Cookbook. Although this recipe is not from that book, him buying it for me reminded me that a) I have a slow cooker, and b) slow cooking is awesome.

What I don't like is when you have to do a lot of pre-cooking before the slow cooking starts, which just makes me feel like there's no point in finishing things up in the slow cooker in the first place.  What I do like is when you can just throw everything into the slow cooker and press Start.  "Set it and forget it!!" I think people say.  Or maybe that's referring to something else like alarm clocks or my recordings of Real Housewives on the PVR, or each and every single one of my New Years resolutions.  Who knows, but in any event, slow cooking is super easy when all that you have to do is dump stuff into the thing and turn it on.

Healthy Southwest Chicken and Rice Bake

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What's in your freezer?

 

So, it's just The Hubby and me in our house, but in looking at our freezer you would think differently.  Here is what I saw when I reluctantly did a freezer clean recently:

• 8 chicken breasts, 1 beef tenderloin log, 1 whole chicken, 2 packs bacon, 2 steaks, 2 bags prawns, 6 salmon fillets
• 7 or more partially used bags of peas or corn or pea/corn combo
• 3 tubs partially-consumed vanilla ice cream with an inch of icy freezer crust on top
• 8 bags of sliced bread with only two pieces of crust remaining per bag (never to be eaten)
• 1,000,000 black bananas
• other, other, other x 100

My inventory of our pantry yielded similar (non-frozen) results.  8 cans of black beans, 7 boxes of pasta, 2,000,000 granola bars, too much uneaten food.  So I threw out the old ice cream, downsized my banana collection, and told The Hubby that we had to try to go a month without buying any new food except dairy products and fresh fruit and vegetables.  We're on about Day 14 now, our freezer is halfway emptied, and our pantry is slowly depleting in stock.  It takes a bit of planning and creativity, and so far almost every meal has included frozen peas or canned black beans, but it's been kind of a fun challenge at the same time.  For instance, I came home from work last night and The Hubby had prepared a chicken, pea, and pasta casserole...and after a long day at work it was exactly what I wanted to eat for dinner, and all that I could think was that I had married some kind of Top Chef or something. That is, until we flicked to Top Chef on tv while we ate dinner!

Amy's Lentil Soup Copycat Recipe

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Lentil Soup.  It's not not ugly...

But guys, remember Beauty and the Beast?  Looks aren't everything!!!  Behind that plain-looking mask is all of this deliciousness...

Side Note:  The Hubby refers to an Onion, Celery, and Carrot mixture as 'The Trifecta,' which stems from confusion over the cooking term, 'The Holy Trinity,' (which is Onion, Celery, and Bell Pepper), and this makes me laugh every single time.  Because he says it every single time.  It's funny.    

This soup is one of my new favourites, and here is why...

I'm so predictable with my lunches at work.  Four days out of five I will bring soup, whether it's homemade or out of a can.  It's so predictable and so boring, but it works for me.  My co-worker / friend Tyler says "Classic Megan" every single day when he sees me and my soup.  And if I'm eating a canned soup, nine times out of ten it will be Amy's Organic Lentil Soup.  The problem here is that Amy's Soups are expensive when you purchase them one by one, usually about $4 per can.  Now friends, at Costco you can get an 8-pack for about $12.25, which reduces it to about $1.50 each.  And what's even better is that one time (my other co-worker / friend Ashley will totally be rolling her eyes at this story because she's heard it about five times), I even picked up the 8-pack on sale for $8 (quick math = $1 per can!).  Ever since then I have been chasing the dragon, but the deal has never reappeared.  

Quinoa Salad with Chickpeas, Avocado, and Feta Cheese

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Quinoa - we can't get enough of the stuff in this house!

 

I've also discovered that 'Quinoa Salad' is by far the most common search item typed into Google to direct people to my blog.  But, I've only got two quinoa salad recipes on the website so far (here and here), so the people have spoken and why not give them more of what they want, right?!

Souper Sunday #9: Butternut Squash and Cauliflower Winter Soup

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Healthy, quick, easy, delicious, butternut-squashy.  Those are the words that best describe this soup.

 

This is another Pinterest 'win' that was literally decided on in my car after leaving Costco and arriving at the grocery store.  At Costco I had braved the cold refrigerated produce section of the store to grab some blackberries (totally out of season, I know, but they called to me), the new packaged kale salad that everyone is raving about (yet to try!), and a two-pound container of pre-cubed butternut squash.  At the grocery store I realized that I had no idea how I was going to use this much butternut squash, and with Souper Sunday looming, I used the Pinterest app on my iPhone to quickly search for a butternut squash soup recipe that had other vegetables in it too.  I already have my own personal favourite pureed butternut squash soup recipe (recipe here), so I wanted to try something a little bit different.  I found this recipe, originally pinned from Cookin Canuck website, and it's a winner.

Souper Sunday #7: Black Bean Soup

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You know what's the best?

 

When the province that you live in decides to add a new statutory holiday this year, and it's tomorrow.

Also the best?  A super sunny warm day in February on this new long weekend.

And up there with the best things ever too?  Not having a hangover after your brother-in-law's surprise 30th birthday last night where you were drinking tequila, on this super sunny warm day in February, on this new long weekend.