Kale and Butternut Squash Soup

I have had an idea for this soup floating around in my head for a while now. Recently, I made roasted acorn squash stuffed with sausage and it was awesome. Adrian loved it too. Basically, squash and sausage are amazing together. Here is the recipe I threw together yesterday, it was delish. If you like Zuppe Toscana (from Olive Garden), you'll like this soup.

Please, no awards for my stunning photography.

(That was sarcasm.)


Kale and Butternut Squash Soup

Ingredients:

1 lb italian sausage
4 stalks celery, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 to 1 medium butternut squashed, peeled and cubed into 1/2 in pieces*
6 cups chicken broth
1 cup quinoa, rinsed (overnight soaking recommended but not necessary.)
5 or more leaves of kale, thick stems removed, roughly chopped
1 tsp salt or to taste
pepper to taste (you won't need much with the sausage)

Directions:

Brown sausage with celery and onion. Drain fat. Add garlic and butternut squash, saute for several minutes. Add chicken broth and quinoa and simmer until squash is tender and quinoa is translucent, about 20 minutes. Remove from heat, stir in kale.

*I used 1/2 of a squash only because I wanted to roast the rest to use in my oatmeal this morning. It was really good with this amount but I wish there was just a little bit more.

Here I Am

I have been feeling super optimistic and motivated lately. I know this time of year always does that to me but man, I just feel excited. For lack of anything else to blog about (I keep starting posts and deleting them because they just tend to ramble) I thought I'd share that.

I think it may just be getting healthier in general--which is ironic because I have a nasty cold right now. A little over a year ago I was so fed up with feeling "off" all the time. I could cry if someone looked at me wrong, I felt kind of "blah" all the time, had no motivation whatsoever, was tired all the time, and I felt attacked all the time due to anxiety. I figured it must be a hormone imbalance. I went to see a wellness consultant that I had heard about in Marquette. I had just started searching online for a cause for all the symptoms I had. I came up with adrenal fatigue which I had never heard of before but I had nearly every single symptom. And there a lot. In fact, I had symptoms that I didn't even know were symptoms--freezing cold or claustrophobically hot when other people were comfortable, very dry skin, weak muscles in my hands and feet. Anyways, I got to the appointment and I was crazy anxious even though I really wanted to be there and as soon as I was alone in the room with Valerie, I just started bawling. Partially from anxiety, partially from relief that I was finally getting help with something that I've dealt with for literally, as long as I can remember. Before saying anything about my research, she immediately recognized adrenal fatigue. After a very long appointment, I left with many tips for eating better, which supplements and vitamins I needed to take, and the fact that I most likely had low thryoid as well. After plenty of research regarding the thryroid, I'm quite confident that that was a big part of my problem as well. Also, from what I've learned, the adrenal and thryoid are very closely affected by one another so it was important to get both of them in balance.

Side note: I did see a medical doctor after my visit with Valerie and after waiting 2 hours for her to see me, she was ready to write me a prescription for an anti-depressant. I'm glad that I didn't listen.

I followed her advice and sloooowly started feeling normal. For the first time in my life. My anxiety was way better, I actually cared about things that I should care about. Like seeing family and friends, going out, doing stuff, living, yeah, that's important yet, it wasn't something that meant very much to me because I just felt so "blah" all the time. I just didn't really care about anything. It took a lot to get me excited but not much to make me feel down.

Fast forward a few months, I got pregnant with sweet little Isaac, fast forward a few more months, I started seeing our current chiropractor. (I can't remember if I mentioned it before but chiropractic plays a big role in preventing breach babies.) Ever since I started getting adjusted regularly (3 times a week at first, then twice, then once, and now every other week) I have been feeling even better. Like a hundred times better that when I thought I was feeling better. I actually plan stuff now! Amazing! I mean really, that sounds so simple, everybody plans stuff right? But I didn't. If someone invited me to go somewhere I usually went but not before I thought really hard about an excuse to stay home. And I never initiated anything. It's not that I didn't want to hang out, it just felt like such a hassle and I was totally content to stay home. Nowadays, I'm always up for doing something with my friends. I'm also super motivated to get projects, cleaning, cooking, etc done at home--something I used to drag my feet over. I feel so much happier. It's so unusual for me to feel down or "blah" now that I can usually step back and figure out what caused it. (Sugar is usually the culprit there.)

While I give most of the credit to getting adjusted, I've made other changes as well. We switched over to natural personal care products (for me, the shorter the list, the better) we're eating more fruits and vegetable than I've ever eaten in my life--mostly organic. We eat a low-grain diet with plenty of protein and most recently, we cut out wheat and dairy. I mean, we have it every once in a while but it's not a regular thing anymore. If you would have told me even 3 years ago that we would make changes like this, I wouldn't have believed you. It has been so worth it. Most of the symptoms of low thyroid and adrenal fatigue are gone and every.single.symptom. has improved. No medication needed.

I still have a ways to go as far as my health is concerned, but sometimes when I stop to think about it, I am just blown away with how crappy I felt for so long, all the while thinking that it was normal and there was nothing I could do about it. Example: when Isaac was born I had more energy than I had pre-motherhood. I never needed naps and I felt so awake even with waking up several times a night to nurse.

I've wanted to share this for quite a while now and today I just decided to start typing. There are a lot of gaps in my story but feel free to ask any questions. I know this isn't an uncommon malady but I do know that a lot of people live with it, many, like me, not even realizing that they can feel any different.

Like I said at the beginning, I feel so much more optimistic these days. Jeff just mentioned the other day that I'm so much happier than I used to be. I think he likes me better this way. ;)

Tomato, Tomahto

I kind of want to write an entire blog post about tomatoes. We went to the Marquette farmer's market again on Saturday. Jeff was working so this time it was just me and the kiddos and we got there towards the end. It had been raining off and on and all of the vendors were packing up even though there was still a half hour to go. Wimps. Anyways, when we went the week before we tried this AMAZING cherry tomatoes from one stand and brought a pint home with us which we quickly devoured like candy and on our chicken salad.

I asked what kind of tomato they were because they were so good, but the guy wasn't sure which one they were. He had 2 different varieties of these orangey-yellow cherry tomatoes and you could only tell them apart by taste. He told me to come back the following week and he would have both kinds (they were mixed together that week since he didn't have a ton of each yet) so I would be able to try them and figure out which was which. Oh my gosh you guys, I seriously can't get over these tomatoes. I like tomatoes but I don't generally like to eat them plain. I cannot wait to grow them next year just so I can snatch them off the plant and snack on them. Yum!

Anyways, I went back to his stand yesterday and he didn't have any. Not just because we were late, but he hadn't brought any at all. Instead, he had some bigger--but still smallish--tomato varieties. They were $2.50 for a pint and he had about 2 and a half pints left. He gave the rest to me for $2.50. This was the reason I wanted to go late in the first place. ;) These other varieties were every bit as good. In fact:

Jeff looked at me like I was crazy as he drizzled peanut butter onto his frozen strawberries.

Have you been to the farmer's market lately? I was pretty disappointed to hear that there are only a couple more weeks to get the local produce when we just started going.

My Man

I mentioned a while back that Jeff had started a blog to document his weight loss journey. He did a full round of P90X and he looks like a totally different person. Go check out his results!

This time around, his attitude was completely different, he's learning more about nutrition...which you would undoubtedly know if you have talked to him AT ALL in the last few months. To say it has become an obsession is an understatement. I couldn't be happier. I've been learning a lot about our food and health in general (we take a holistic approach if you haven't caught that yet) in the last few years so it has been pretty awesome to have him getting just as excited about certain topics.

BTW, when I flipped over to the P90X page to grab the link Adrian shouted, "That's P Nondy Eks!" (He's a bit of a Yooper doncha know.) Yeah, we've seen a bit of Tony Horton lately.

Now he's onto round 2, be sure to follow along! (And I'll be sure to remind him to blog more often.)
(And we'll try to remember to take the pictures the same way each time.)

Good Morning, Sunshine!

My latest breakfast:

I really struggle with finding tasty, filling, and healthy breakfast ideas. I really, really wish I liked eggs, but the truth is, I really don't. I can handle a veggie and sausage/bacon stuffed omelet every once in a while and quiches are good every month or so. As for hard boiled eggs: I could probably eat one every six months. Eh. I recently tried steel-cut oats which I really like. They have more protein and a chewier texture than rolled oats. I first heard about cooking quinoa like oatmeal quite a while ago and finally tried it a week or so ago. I soaked it overnight in coconut milk and cooked it in the morning, just like oatmeal. I added cinnamon, a lot of cinnamon, I really like cinnamon. I sweetened it with a bit of agave nectar and topped it with raw almonds and bananas. It was pretty good, still very quinoa-y, but definitely bearable and it left me feeling a bit more full than oatmeal does. The next day, I topped it with almond butter and bananas. It was really good! The almond butter covered the quinoa taste more than the whole almonds. I found a new breakfast (until I get sick of this too). I think it would also be really tasty with toasted coconut flakes.

If you have any great breakfast ideas that don't include eggs as a main ingredient, please share!

Thrifty, Thrifty my Husband is Nifty!

Remember this vintage sheet? It's okay if you don't. ;) I finally finished a project with it. A little something for Restyle actually. I should have it listed next week. Aaaand, I still have so much fabric leftover. What to make next...

I've been meaning to get pictures of my thifty finds. Yesterday, in between appointments, we went to Salvation Army and I finally found a maxi skirt! I'm so excited except it's completely see-through so I still need to find something to line it with. All colors except yellow tags were half off and cheapskate that I am, I didn't want to pay full price for a long slip or nightgown. I also found 2 sweaters. One is a cardigan that I just love, I'm hoping it fits post baby. I'm basically over buying maternity clothes. With a month left, it's time to start working on my regular wardrobe.

Have I mentioned that I love thrifting?

We had a busy day yesterday. I already had 2 appointments planned so why not throw in another one? The chiropractor was able to squeeze me in last minute, something was out of place so I wanted to get that taken care of right away. We had a little time before my OB appointment, which was the fastest time ever BTW. It was at 11 and we were walking back out the door by 11:15. That has never happened to me before, I was quite happy with that. The only problem was, Adrian stayed and played with the toys in the waiting room with Jeff while I was with the doctor and he wasn't quite ready to go when we left. The mention of Border Grill got him out the door. Geez, we've eaten there way too many times in the past month.

After my lucky finds at Salvation Army we went to a workshop by one the newest Chiropractors in the Marquette area. I'm so glad we went. I met him a few months ago during 'ladies night' (an open house of sorts for the local businesses) and I told Jeff that I want to switch chiropractors as soon as we can afford to. The one we had gone to before (that I just saw yesterday) is a sports chiropractor and basically only does adjustments. After hearing so much about the chiropractor my sisters see out in Minnesota, I have been waiting for someone similar in our area. This guy is one of a small number of Certified Chiropractic Wellness and Lifestyle Practioners in Michigan. He was offering a special rate for his initial exam to everyone who came to the workshop. So, so glad we were there or we probably wouldn't have switched for a looong time. (The initial exam is really expensive which is why I hadn't switched before.) We all have appointments next week. (Did I mention that Jeff has his second week of vacation right now?) I can't wait to see what's wrong with us. ;) In all seriousness though, I'm excited to see how he can help us become the healthiest that we can be.

Today was a pretty slow day at home. I went through some baby clothes to see what I still need, I can't believe I'll be taking them out for real in the next couple weeks! Jeff is finishing up his P90X workout right now and Adrian is looking at library books. Tonight, we are going to check out the dogsled races. They have a ceremonial start in Marquette and for some reason, we've never been. Adrian sounds excited to see the 'doggies.'

BTW, I was holding off mentioning this, but it looks like today's the day; Jeff started P90X again and this time, he's documenting it in blog form. I'm pretty proud of him for really putting himself out there. What better way to motivate someone else to do the same than to show such vulnerability? He is so committed, I think it's his nature to become practically obsessed with something once he decides to do it. He has officially lost 12 lbs in under 5 weeks! Be sure to check out his blog and cheer him on! (He usually posts on Monday nights.)

Raspberry Tea

I've been drinking a lot of tea since I quit coffee last spring. (And haven't looked back!) I love green tea and thought it was completely fine to drink during pregnancy but, as it turns out, green tea blocks the absorption of folic acid. It should be avoided before and especially during the first trimester. How ironic that I learned this at the start of my second trimester. Anyways, this is a recent finding and who knows, they may find out in a year or so that it is 'safe' to drink during the 1st trimester. (Ironically, the nurse that told me this gave me the 'okay' to drink coffee in moderation...) Here's a little factoid: did you know that, although green tea contains caffeine, it also contains a protein called thianine which doesn't allow your body to absorb the caffeine?
Anyways, I recently switched to raspberry tea which is very good to drink during pregnancy and while nursing. (It's good for anyone but particularly beneficial for those two groups.) I buy it in loose leaf form from our natural foods store. I have yet to buy a tea ball so in the meantime, I've been making my own tea bags. I first saw this idea on A Beautiful Mess. Hers are much prettier than mine but hey, they work. I was able to get 2 tea bags out of 1 coffee filter since I wasn't concerned about the ridges. The only problem is, coffee filters are much thicker than tea bags so you may need to allow extra steeping time. This isn't a big deal with raspberry tea because I keep the bag in the entire time.
Now go drink some tea and gaze out the window at the falling snow. (Wait, what? It's not snowing in your area? Hm...we have a few inches on the ground already. Happy November!)

Guess what?



Ha! So this clearly wasn't for Bentley but today is his birthday! Amanda and Paul added a sweet little baby boy to their family today!
 I wish I had pictures from Sunday but of course I don't. Some friends of ours had families over for sledding and a bonfire. Adrian was so tired (he hasn't been sleeping well with those molars trying to come through) so I can't say that he had a blast but Jeff and I sure enjoyed ourselves! I went snowshoeing with some of the ladies through the burnt forest. It was so strange to see all the blackened trees; the fire happened 2 years ago. Anyways, Adrian did enjoy some sledding thanks to all the girls who are always spoiling him whenever they're around! There was a bonfire too, so we cooked hotdogs for supper. I took Adrian inside for a little bit because he only wanted to be held and we ended up staying in until we left. I think I was actually the last one to leave, I was too busy visiting! It was such a nice day, this warmer weather is giving me spring fever. I thought I was doing fine with winter, then the sunshine and above freezing temps had to show themselves! Aaah, well, we'll enjoy winter for a while longer!

I had another appointment with the chiropractor this morning. He said my back is better than he has ever seen! I chalk that up to his adjustments and yoga. I've always resisted yoga a little bit because it seems like such a 'slow' exercise. I'm still getting used to it and it really is helping. My back was a bit sore last week and I realized I had been slacking with yoga so I started up again--just 10-15 minutes a day--and it made a world of difference!

Jeff and I have a date tonight, we're going to a new (to us) restaurant that Jeff wants to try out. Yay for date night!

a few things

>Sometimes I don't capitalize any words in my title because I don't remember the correct way to do it.
>That goes for a lot of my grammar actually...
>Jeff and I are going on a date tonight! I'm so excited! We don't get out often enough and I recently talked to another friend who wanted to switch babysitting with someone else. Now I have 2 people to call if I want to go out without Adrian!
>I had another appointment with the chiropractor this morning. Adrian cried the entire time. Again. I can't wait for him to warm up to that place! I have a few sore spots today on my neck and back which is to be expected since my entire spine is being realigned. There is hope for a straight spine for this lady!
>I am currently working on a skirt that looks similar to this. I am hoping to get it done for tomorrow's feature!
>I am thinking about going to a workshop set up by Lanni Lantto next month. Except, now I'm not so sure, I just saw that the time is 1-3pm which is my little dude's nap time. I'll have to see if I can work something out. They meet three times.
>I fully plan to convince Jeff to go thrift shopping tonight. Do you think it will work? We still have Christmas money to spend and we have been looking for a bookcase. Wish us luck! (Well, wish me luck, first!)

reestablishing the flora

I'm still occupied with getting my little guy better so no Feature Me Friday today! Perhaps, tomorrow. Maybe I should change it to a Saturday feature...Or just get on the ball!
I really wish Adrian would get better already! He seems fine for parts of the day. He gets animated and talkative. Then, for other parts of the day, he's quiet and tired and snuggly. He has still been throwing up once a day for the past few days. I ran to the co-op the other day to pick up some acidophilus (per my chiropractor's recommendation). I had to ask someone for help because there were several different kinds but they all said 'keep out of reach of children.' The Health and Wellness guy told me he had something in the back for babies. I took it home, opened it, gave some to Adrian...and then, read the ingredient list. No acidophilus. Even though that's what I specifically asked for. Either way, it has plenty of probiotics and I can give it to him every day so it's good to have. Still, not what I was looking for. Then, I remembered that I had yogurt starter in the fridge. Sure enough, it has acidophilus! We'll have yogurt ready by morning, hopefully it helps my little guy! I also found some water with electrolytes at the co-op that I can give him instead of Pedialyte. No artificial colors or flavors. Woohoo! Bonus: it's cheaper than Pedialyte! Sweet!

Note: If you're wondering what the heck yogurt and acidophilus have to do with anything check out this link!

Hiking up the Mountain

Jeff was off work on Monday (his usual 'weekend') so we made a plan to hike up Sugarloaf. It was an easy climb and it was a beautiful day. I seriously love it here, it's so easy to do active, physical outings when there are so many places to choose from! This 'hike' is a quick one if you want it to be, we didn't stay long at the top because it was pretty windy and we weren't dressed very warmly. We went after Adrian's nap and still had time to grocery shop before going home for supper!

The Pretend Chef

Guess what I'm eating right now? Okay, don't guess. I'm eating carrots. Weird. I didn't think I liked carrots. Or maybe I just thought I didn't like them. Or maybe tastebuds really do change every seven years. Either way, Earthbound Farms' carrots are pretty tasty. I have tried other brands and I don't like them as much as Earthbound Farms. They aren't as sweet. Or something. Anyways, who cares about carrots?


I'm hear to tell you how I make BBQ pizza. Why? Because Heather asked, that's why. It's quite simple really. Unless you're afraid of making pizza dough. And I'm not. Ready?
Roll out your dough, slather on a mixture of 1 part pizza sauce and 1 part BBQ sauce. Sprinkle on the cheese and then toss on some shredded or diced chicken that has been mixed with BBQ sauce. That simple. Of course, if you're like me and you make the pizza sauce and the BBQ sauce and the...anyways, it is delicious!

I would share my sauce recipes but they aren't really super fabulous so go find your own.

Amateur in so many ways

I'm definitely feeling like a first-time mom lately trying to figure out Adrian's crankiness. Why can't he just tell me what the problem is? Oh wait, maybe that's part of the problem. He can't tell me! Well, that and maybe molars coming in. He's been chomping on his fingers a lot. Or maybe he actually needs two naps rather than the one that I want to give him. Okay, really, as you can see, I still don't have a clue. I guess I'll work on fixing all of the above and hope for a happier little guy!

I've been training for a half-marathon for the past few months (I think I've mentioned it on here before) and I'll be running that half-marathon on Saturday! I'm pretty excited to reach my goal! It feels so nice to be at the end of my training but at the same time that makes me nervous, I don't want to come to a complete halt with my daily exercise. And I know that is waaaay too easy to do! Kate and I have plans to do some hiking before the snow flies. That's hiking with 20 lbs on our backs. That involves a whole different muscle group! I'm looking forward to it.

Book Recommendation

If you are interested in natural and organic eating, I suggest you read the book In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan. It was a very interesting read--for myself anyways, someone who is slowly making the switch to whole and organic foods.

I have to tell you that just a few short years ago (like maybe 2) I thought anything "natural" or "organic" was all bogus but I slowly started learning about it and now I realize that it's not so bogus after all! We try to buy natural and organic whenever possible. Of course, we can't eat completely organic right now because it does cost a lot more (something that I can understand and appreciate now as I continue to learn) but we'll get there someday! One of the things I look forward to most when we buy a house is having our own vegetable garden. After tasting fresh from the garden produce at my Mom and Dad's, you just can't beat that!

Did I Forget to Mention?

We were married a year ago today. We didn't have any plans for our big day. That was fine by me. We had talked about going on a weekend trip somewhere south but that never happened, maybe in a month or so. We actually ended up hiking Sugarloaf Mountain with Paul and Kate H. They like to get us moving whenever we hang out with them. ;) We ended the day at Jeffrey's, a local restaurant that my Jeffery has wanted to try out. They even gave us free dessert because it was our anniversary! And now I will finish out the night by going to bed early. I'm think I've caught that virus that seems to be going around, I am positively exhausted!!

Green Tea

I suddenly became a tea-drinker. I used to drink coffee pretty moderately but looking back at the past month, I've realized that I only had about two cups of coffee and about 273 cups of tea. Green that is. I think I like it for the convenience. Convenience you ask? How is boiling water and letting a tea bag sit for a few minutes for each cup convenience? Well let me tell you. When I drink coffee, I brew about half a pot at a time. But...I would drink it so slowly that by the time I went back for more, the warmer had turned off and I don't have an insulated carafe. And who wants to drink coffee that old anyhow? Okay I'll admit, I didn't know the difference. Still, tea work for me, I just keep a kettle of water on the stove all day and heat it up when I need it! Besides that, it's so much better for you than coffee! Here are a few benefits that I've heard along the way:

When consumed over a period of time green tea may:

Aid in weight loss
Prevent cancer
Fight bad breath

Now, shoo, go buy some tea!