I'm all dolled up and ready to go so I have time to post the soup recipe. It's from allrecipes.com. They had 3 butternut and apple soups recipes, two of them were rated 4.5 stars and the 3rd one wasn't rated as high so I'll not post it. You can check it out yourselves. I didn't go exactly as the recipe is, cut calories where I could. I skipped the potato, wine and cream, used butter flavored Pam to brown the onions, etc.
Quote:
Butternut and Apple Harvest Soup
INGREDIENTS:
2 tablespoons butter
2 large leeks (white and pale green parts
only), chopped
1 large onion, chopped
1 large potato, peeled and cubed
2 cups cubed butternut squash
1 cup diced carrots
1 Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored, and sliced 1/4-inch thick
1 quart chicken stock
1/4 cup dry white wine (optional)
1/2 cup light cream
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoons chopped chives
DIRECTIONS:
1.Melt butter in a large pot over medium heat. Stir in leeks and onions, and cook until the onion softens and turns translucent, about 5 minutes. Add potato, squash, carrots, apple, and chicken stock. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until the vegetables are soft, about 20 minutes.
2.Carefully puree the soup in batches in a blender, or use a stick blender to puree the soup right in the pot. Once the soup has been pureed, return it to the pot and stir in wine and cream. Season with nutmeg, salt, and pepper; simmer gently for 5 minutes. Ladle into bowls and garnish with chopped chives.
Oh, my memory fails me. I think it was Isabella who asked about my caramel flavored yogurt? I purchased a bottle of Watkins Caramel extract, I add a teaspoon to the milk mixture after it cools down to 110 degrees. Then I fill my eight yogurt containers and process for a few hours. It's really delicious with my cinnamon applesauce, Fiber One cereal, like eating a caramel apple.
Makes 8 containers @ 51 calories each.
Location: Home of the Pirates, Steelers and Penguins
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Hi GG! Last night, I was up 3 times during the night having to pee, which is unusual for me, but when I got on the scale this morning the water weight I had put on a couple days ago was gone. Things are looking down!
Gayle - I'm sorry to hear your having so much pain with your sciatica, and no relief in sight. And you have to go to work with this, to boot! At least with my pain, if I can find just the right position in my recliner I feel absolutely no pain and I can lounge there for hours, watching tv or reading my book, at least until I have to get up out of the chair, at which time the tugging and pulling brings back the pain. I hope you can find relief somehow.
Where I used to work, they actually held a mandatory seminar conducted by the company nurse about ergonomics and making sure your work area is set up in such a way to prevent injury. After that, I realized that my work station was set up with a left-side credenza, and that was causing me stress pain in my left shoulder. I asked if I could change my seat to one with a right-side credenza and was told that they had too many employees to allow everyone to pick the seat they want. So the seminar was probably held to satisfy safety requirements, and was all a bunch of bull crappy. I wanted to tell the boss that, but I held my tongue.
Bobbi - When I had my colostomy surgery, they told me to make sure I chewed my food very, very thoroughly. That really slowed down my eating. I found that I got full a lot sooner than normal, probably because it takes 20 minutes for your brain to get the message that you're full.
Zoe - When I look in a mirror at my wounds, they look really small, maybe the size of a dime or nickel, but under the skin the hole spreads out by a couple inches, so when they put the packing in, they have to push it around from side to side to completely fill the hole inside. The plan is for the hole to close up from the inside out until all that's there is the opening in the skin. In 65 years I had never heard of such a thing!
Chickadee - I loved the story of the cracked pot. It just goes to show that even though you might not be as good at something as someone else, but you might be better at something else.
Marie - The way I understand it, when the doctor did my colostomy he cut out the portion of my colon that had the diverticulitis. I keep forgetting to ask if I still have it. If it's gone, I may not be bothered by the seeds, nuts etc. But even though, I feel that if I had it once, I'm probably suceptable to it and I don't want to take a chance of having to go through this again. From what Isabella wrote about the quiona, it puffs up and is soft, like barley.
Karen31 - If you call me after 9PM you probably WILL wake me!
Supper IS at 4PM, every day!
In the past few years I have definately recouped all the money I
spent on medical insurance in my lifetime!
Lucinda - People who see your daily or often, don't usually notice weight loss because it's gradual. When I lost 35 lbs, my step daughter didn't notice it until one day we were all comparing drivers license pictures. I don't think a policeman would believe that it was me.
Rie - I hope your mouth is feeling better. Just think of how pretty your smile will be when it's all finished!
Have a good weekend, everyone!
Last edited by Wannabehealthy; 01-14-2012 at 10:45 AM.
Rosey ~ I love the sound of your “uniform” it sounds really cheery ~ I especially like the funky socks. How is DH doing with the dietary restrictions? Hope he’s not too cranky with you.
Isabella ~ thank you for sharing that article ~ that was interesting
CK ~ thank you for that list ~ made me smile. The one about the speed limits brought back a funny memory. I was following Sara home one day. She was quite a ways ahead of me ~ I had lost sight of her. She came upon a policeman sitting along side the road waiting to catch speeders. She thought maybe she should call me on my cell phone and warn me, but decided that I drive like a snail so there was no need. Don’t you know, that day, I was going just a little over the speed and got pulled over. No ticket just a warning, but Sara and I had a good laugh about that. Who would have thought that it would be “mom” that got pulled over.
Bobbi ~ thank you for sharing the recipes ~ it is so cool all the stuff we learn from each other. Did your glasses finally get here?
Lynn ~ glad your presentation to the kids went well.
Lyn ~ how are you doing?
Donna ~ how are you doing? Hope you got enough snow to take care of those darned ants.
Freda ~ hope your weekend at work is a good one.
Rie ~ how did your tournament go? Enjoy the time
with your mom and dad.
Marie ~ I’m glad your pain is better now and that you are able to once again do your exercising
Carol (GD) ~ congratulations on the 3.5 pounds lost ~ way to go
Carol Sue ~ glad you came away from your visit with the PA feeling better about things. Hoping for you that your healing will move along quickly.
Lucinda ~ glad you were able to find a school you like for your daughter
Zoe ~ glad you are liking the qi gong ~ and it is something you are enjoying doing.
K3 ~ it is cold down here in Houston too ~ 34* this morning. Sorry about your bridge partner’s brother ~ any news?
Nancy ~ thinking of you ~ hope you are hanging in there ok.
Mary ~ great job on the bargins. Hope they can get your car fixed and running reliably
Chicky ~ glad you have been doing good on your plan and are feeling better ~ how is the thumb doing? Thank you for sharing that cracked pot story ~ love it
Trish ~ sorry for your back spasms ~ hope your back feels better today
Deelee ~ welcome. I can understand how you feel with your mom. My mom is in the beginning stages and is sometimes resistive trying to get her to do things she needs to do. My sister seems to have the magic touch and mom just listens to her.
Good Morning!! Just a quick post this morning. We have some running that needs to get done and I am starting late... But loved sleeping in!
I am only down .2 pounds this week! I can't even move my ticker where it shows that I'm not at 180-- I am actually 178.6 but it doesn't show the move. I am hoping that I show more this week... of course I think I need to do more. I have been working on it pretty good but there were a couple days this week that I didn't get the real workout in due to doing other housework and doing running that left no time for it. Need to get more organized I guess!!
I had a great time at the tourney last night even though I had too many players so I didn't play. We finished just before 2am and I had a hard time getting ready for sleep so I only had less than 5 hours of sleep and I am tired this morning. It is cold here but dreary looking and we still don't have any snow in our near future.
I have the house to myself for most of the day. Ds has a photo shoot and dgs is at my mom's. I am going to gork in the effective way that one can gork while being blessedly alone!
I am a little frustrated at the lack of movement on the scale but I will hang in there. Forgive me for no personals this morning.... I'm off to read the paper.
Thanks, Gayle, for mentioning the snow and the ants. I appreciate that you pay attention and respond! I still have all my original snow in the back yard; it won't melt until spring! I hope your PeopleWhoGetPaidALotButDon'tReallyCare pay attention and get you some ergonomic help! I can so much commiserate! Sitting HURTS... I'm constantly moving my chair height, my body position, etc., trying to get comfortable. However, the hip is still at about a 1.5 on the pain scale, and I can most certainly live with that!
PT/Zoe - how often do you go to your Qi classes? I'm VERY proud of you!
Rosey - hope DH is better soon... for YOUR sake!
Marie - glad you're feeling better! Rie - your mouth is all healed, it seems? At least, you feel well enough to pool, which is good.
Nothing to report. I just took an egg casserole out of the oven, and it looked odd... the chopped vegetables were still on the counter, instead of in the mixture. Oh, well... it'll be good, anyway. Maybe I should just go back to bed?
KarenFL and MO, Bobbi, Lynn, Lyn, Isabella, everyone, Newbies... hope your weekend is a good one!
Donna--- your casserole sound like something that I would do!! LOL!! Oh well, I'm glad I am in good company!!
Gayle, hope you get some relief from that pain! It is no fun. Surely there is someone who can do something about the conditons where you work.
Marie, glad that you are feeling better. I hate dental work!
Rosie, how is DH doing? sure hope things get better for him real soon.
Zoe, I think I will go back and find the link for that exercise and see what it is all about. Sounds pretty interesting.
Bobbi, I love looking at recipes-- and some day I am going to just try them without telling DH... he doesn't like to try anything new!
CarolSue--Glad that you seem to be a little more at ease now. I hope things continue to heal just like they are supposed to.
Karen--I'm glad that our cold weather didn't last to lone-- right now it is 46 degrees and the next few days are supposed to be in the 60's! Counting the days to spring!!
Hello to everyone that I missed and hopefully I can still get caught up a little more later.
DH is flying back home as I type. So my totally "me" time will end at 11:00 tonight. I'm getting low on the bigger firewood so it's good he'll be home. First item on his to do list is chop more firewood. I like my house near 80.
My friend and I were adventuresome today. Her kids were with their dad and DH wasn't home. She has 3 dogs and I have 4. We decided to do something today and I came up with the idea of going to the mountain behind my house with some of the dogs Her dog Sara is a runner like Sasha so they couldn't go. And Sasha would have been sad by herself and Blizzie shouldn't run because of her hips. So I took Kai and Kody and she took two of her dogs. We had four dogs out in the forest running like the wind. They were amazing. Gideon (her German Shepard) and Kody got along. Two boy doggies and they all had fun. We decided next time we'd figure out how to bring all 7 doggies. When we got back to my house we had mochas. And I'd let Gideon out the back door and when he wanted to come in, Kai opened the remote door (her radio collar). Gideon comes through the doggie door with this amazed look. It was really cool. Now it is nap time since I have to pick DH up at the airport 2 hours after my bedtime.
Marie
Hi all. I've been gone most of the day. I almost skipped my bike but I decided I'd get on and watch the end of a movie while on the bike. Glad I did it now, except the house is so hot. Marie, you and my DH like about the same temperature--what's wrong with you two??? LOL I like it about 23 C (73-74 F).
Bobbi, thanks for the tip on the flavoured yogurt. I guess that would work for most flavours. I wonder what coconut would be like? Hmmmmm....
Today is my free eating day but I over did it tonight. I'm so full I'll probably be full til breakfast. But I'd better put something down.
Quote:
Breakfast: Oatmeal (with flax, bran & wheat germ) 2 chopped walnuts, raisins, skim milk brown sugar, 1/2 fruit smoothie with a good dollop of ff yogurt
Dinner: Lentil roast, 3 kinds potato salad, jello salad, lettuce & tomato with a dribble of salad dressing, 1/2 cup tomato juice, Christmas pudding and sauce (All servings were small)
Snack: Potato chips at MIL's. I'm putting all the blame on her!
Supper: Truck load of leftover potato salad, jello salad, Christmas pudding & sauce, cookies, hot chocolate.
I’m still struggling with motivation. Did ok for a few days and saw a nice 2# loss, but gave in to ice cream last night. Have been walking outside and did 3.7 miles both Wed and Friday. Love my new MP3 player and my tunes. Still not a flake of snow here.
Gayle, I was the ergonomist at my last job with J&J and did lots of office assessments. Even if others use your desk, you should lobby to have an adjustable height keyboard tray installed so that you can adjust it to your height. Your wrists should be “neutral” (not bent) when you place your hands on the keyboard. Your chair should be adjusted so that your feet are flat on the floor and your knees are at a 90 degree angle. Monitor at eye level so your neck is not strained. I know it sounds simple, but it makes a BIG difference if you spend lots of time at a computer.
Bobbi: Those soups sound good..thanks for sharing.
Welcome Dee Dee!
Chickadee: Snow sounds pretty. I tried Quinoa and didn’t care too much for it…May have to try your way.
Rosey: Good for you for questioning the medicine for your DH. You should be proud for standing up to the nurse’s nasty comments. Ounds like you have some challenging cooking ahead.
Mary: I love shopping for bargains. Nice going. Good luck with your car.
Carol: Congratulations on your loss!!!! 3.5 pounds!!! Have a safe trip.
Carol Sue: Glad you are healing. Nice to lose the water weight. Keep it up
Karen: Well 0.2# is better than nothing. Keep it up. You have been an inspiration.
Rie: 2 am??? I’m lucky if I make it past 10:00.
Hi to everyone else I MISSED. Woops hit the Caps again.
Lyn
Lyn ~ glad you stopped in to visit. Thank you for the information on the ergonomic issues. I hope they can help me.
Chicky ~ could you share the recipe for that spaghetti squash crust pizza that you shared the picture of. It looked so good.
I haven't really accomplished anything today. Laundry was about all, and the personals here ~ so that was something I guess. I just kind of rested, watched some TV, napped. Did a good job of gorking I guess.
Maybe tomorrow, I will have the urge to do something.
A question for you that download books ~ I have a tablet (HTC flyer) with the android thing on it. I have been trying to find if there is an audio book ~ a couple of my favorite authors are Lilian Jackson Braun ~ The Cat Who...... series (mysteries) and Anne George (the Southern Sisters mystery series). I try to look, but don't really know what I am doing and when I do try, there is so much stuff I feel overwhelmed and get lost. Can anyone give me some guidance?
I have spent the day getting a little work done and have been enjoying football for the evening. I didn't get a chance to work out because I have been tied to the computer all day. I will remedy that tomorrow.
Ds made me roasted broccoli and cauliflower for supper tonight - I absolutely LOVE it. I learned that he used frozen, store brand veggies. Amazing! I couldn't tell the difference from the fresh that we usually roast. Good to know - he got these frozen veggies for a very good price. Really yummy.
Gayle, (and Donna) I noticed that I was having lots of hip and sciatica pain for a while at work but not at home when I was working. I realized that I have a little stool under my desk at home and I can prop my feet up or put them down and change the angle. It works great. Even something like a couple thick books works good.
Donna, I remember you talking about the ants. What kind of ants cause you trouble? Your egg casserole story made me laugh. Sometimes when I am making something, I suddenly wonder if I already included an ingredient - like the baking powder. My beloved grandma never measured much but she would set all her ingredients out and put them away as she used them. I realized later that it was because she was making sure that she included everything.
Lyn, nice to hear from you. No flakes here, either. It is starting to bum me out It will be nice to have you around more. I struggle with having my feet on the floor because I have such short legs. I look silly sitting in my big executive chair behind my desk if it is adjusted properly - I look like a little kid. So, I prop my feet up under the desk.
Bobbi, oh, the squash soups sound lovely. Too many carbs for me, though. I am planning to bake and portion out a nice squash tomorrow. My ds doesn't like it but I like it cubed, roasted and sprinkled with a little sf maple syrup. Can you tell me more about the yogurt? Do you have a yogurt maker?
Rosey, I am so proud of you for avoiding a medication error with your dh. Hopefully, you are doing well and he is doing ok with the restrictions.
Mary, I am going to finally take my tree down tomorrow. I can't believe that I haven't done it already. I would be mortified if someone stopped by my house I hope you had a good visit with the kids.
Marie, I loved the story of you, your friend, and all the doggies. I can't imagine having the house that warm. Wow, but I do get colder than I used to before the weight loss. I am sure that your dh will be so glad to get home.
Caddyk, the pictures that you have been posting of the girls are so amazing. I am glad that you enjoyed your show and those tears are healing - weight loss or not. I am with you on being frustrated with the dratted scale! Grrrr.
Carol. Yay on the pounds lost! I hope that you enjoyed your trip. Tell us about it when you get back.
Carol Sue, it sounds like you are feeling a little more confident about your healing process. I am thinking of you and your healing often and I try to send good energy your way.
Isabella, that is a long way on the bike..... I would like to start bike riding. What is "Christmas pudding"
Chickadee, how is your thumb? I love the nutty, chewy taste and texture of quinoa. Kind of like barley.
Karenfl, has our northern weather gone away? I hope your bridge partner's brother is ok. My 5 yrold gs taught me a card game today that he learned from his little cousin. Totally amazing that he could understand and teach me to play. He is definitely a member of our family - we LOVE cards and games.
Zoe, I hope the snow isn't too bad for you and doesn't cause commuting problems. I am assuming that you are enjoying a long weekend like many of us. I plan to spend some time this weekend reflecting on the issues of race and culture - how far we have come and what else we need to do. I have a couple friends who are Arab American in race and culture. Some of what they face these days is so sad. I plan to read a couple of MLK's speeches and reflect on this tomorrow.
Lynn, how is your weekend going? Do your classes start soon?
I am sorry for all that I missed..... Just very sleepy now and I need to get to bed. Rest well friends.
Oh no, some kind of nasty something got in my lap top ~ DH ~ the fixer of all those kinds of stuff couldn't figure it out ~ said he was too tired tonight.
Sure hope he can figure it out tomorrow ~ other wise I will be having major withdrawals.
I was innocently trying to read more about that virtual lap band thing I had heard about. Grrrrrr
I can't even move my ticker where it shows that I'm not at 180-- I am actually 178.6 but it doesn't show the move. 
I am hoping that I show more this week... of course I think I need to do more. I have been working on it pretty good but there were a couple days this week that I didn't get the real workout in due to doing other housework and doing running that left no time for it. Need to get more organized I guess!! 
. 
Truck load of leftover potato salad, jello salad, Christmas pudding & sauce, cookies, hot chocolate.
Have a safe trip.
