yesterday

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Okay, time to catch up on yesterday’s post!  It started with a Green Monster built for 2! 

  1. 1 pear
  2. 2-3c. spinach
  3. 1 Amazing Meal – Chocolate
  4. 1 banana
  5. 1 container Wallaby vanilla bean yogurt
  6. 1/4c. vanilla rice milk [any type of milk will work]
  7. 2 handfuls of ice
  • Grind – Blend – Liquefy – Enjoy

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After my delicious glass of GREEN, I headed to Boulder to go running with Laura.

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I came prepared for a multitude of things we might want to do:

running clothes –> camera stuff –> change of clothes if we went anywhere –> computer to hang out and do work  

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We had an awesome 4+ mile run through her neighborhood + park.  The weather was cloudy and 60*, perfecto!  We came in from the run and had food on the brain.  She made corn chowder, which sounded awesome….but what to pair with it?? Grilled cheese of course!  We made a dash for Whole Foods to get bread + cheese.  We were starving and tempted by SO much.  I suggested a “fancy” grilled cheese, which Laura was totally down for.  We got a fresh loaf of bread and we couldn’t escape the bakery case empty handed!

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The Halloween cupcakes were just too cute!  We got 1 to split. mmmm

Fancy grilled cheese:

  1. awesome loaf of bread – Something with a crusty exterior is perfect
  2. goat cheese
  3. pesto – [we used a roasted tomato pesto from the Olive Bar at WF…if your store has a salad bar or olive bar check there for getting small amounts of things you want to use in your recipes, instead of having to buy full jars!]
  4. sun dried tomatoes [also from the olive bar!]
  5. a little butta’ for the bread
  • Panini press your samich until done! Or, a fry pan will work just fine.

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I <3 natural light!

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The corn chowder Laura made was awesome!!! A small sprinkle of bacon on top never hurt anyone ;)

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All of the flavors worked so well together…a fabulous lunch!

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With a little apple crunchiness on the side!

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We were too stuffed to enjoy the cupcake together…Laura split it every so perfectly!

Cupcake photo shoot time…   

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We both ate it later that nite and emailed our opinions to each other [nerds!!].  We agreed it had a good consistency, and the frosting wasn’t overly sweet, but the flavor was reallly lacking.  It was a vanilla cupcake with vanilla frosting, which is my FAVorite!  Definitely needed a BIG kick of vanilla…I wouldn’t buy one again =(

But they were SO cute!

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After I got home, Chris was washing and waxing the new car.  We needed to get it waxed and ready for winter!  I thought my arm was going to fall off from all the rubbing!  I came in and devoured the cupcake…I needed some suga’

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Too bad it started snowing about 1hr after we finished waxing the car.  Didn’t get to enjoy it at all!!!

What’s for dinner???

Thai spiced pumpkin soup from 101 cookbooks!  I used a baking pumpkin and a smallish butternut squash.

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I cut the squash in quarters to cook a little quicker.  I cooked them at 400* for about 35-40min.  [soft to the touch]

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I followed her recipe, but added fresh ground black pepper, and 2 chopped garlic cloves.  I used low sodium veggie stock, instead of water, which helped give it flavor.  I ended up putting in a total of 3tsp. of the red curry paste, for a perfect, medium heat.  Natalie definitely added more..she likes it s.p.i.c.y.!!!

I also toasted some pumpkin + butternut squash seeds to sprinkle on top. 

  1. wash and pat dry
  2. roast @ 300* for about 30-45min until dry + crunchy

For 1c. of seeds this is what I mixed up in a bowl:

  1. 2T butter
  2. 1/4tsp sea salt
  3. few shakes of ginger + cinnamon
  4. 1T brown sugar
  5. 1 shake ground cloves
  • Melt the butter and combine with seasonings. 
  • Toss with pumpkin seeds
  • Increase oven temp to 350* and toast for about 10-20min depending on how done you want them

They had a sweet/salty taste and worked well as a soup topper.

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The soup was realllly tasty.  I loved the smooth consistency.  I do not have a hand/immersion blender, so I used a drink blender on the liquefy setting. 

  • I  poured the soup from the pot into a large bowl
  • Then poured half of the mixture into the blender and liquefied it
  • Put that back in the pot
  • Liquefied the other 1/2 and added that back to the pot

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I made a side of my special coconut rice to mix in the soup.  The flavors worked really well together and the rice helped make it more filling. 

I used a new lens today.  Well, it’s not new, but Chris just remembered that it might be awesome for food shots…and it is!! It’s a 50mm, f1.8…it is better in lower light, and I could instantly tell a difference!  I am loving it..but getting used to it too.  You can’t zoom in or out with this one!

All for now!

Ashley