Onterrible Aint So Terrible in the Autumn Sun

Happy Sunday Evening!

It was such a rare beautiful fall day here in St Kitts, with warm sunshine and pretty orange leaves on the ground that I almost forgot I was in Onterrrrbile the Niagara region! Today much like the rest of the weekend flew by, thanks to an afternoon spent in the Brock aquatic center… Apparently, I am now a swimmer. Just as apparently now I am also a cross country runner.. Who ever said old dogs can’t learn new tricks!?

Seriously though.. water running is hard and swimming is no picnic when the last time you did a length was the fifth grade when you were held back a level in swim club!

I did however have a great time in Kingston Friday night/Saturday with the Brock XC team and managed to pull off a rather large XC PB with a time of 19:30 for the 5k Race (although the course was actually 200m short). Either way I was rather happy as the course was super challenging and this was an improvement on my time from the first meet of the season on September 25 where I ran 21:34.

Also.. I would like to give a huge shout out to the always amazing Mr. Broadway Run Club who used his exceptional Nancy Drew like investigation skills to track down my chip/gun time from the Goodlife Fitness Victoria Half Marathon last weekend ( yes, I am that girl who didn’t tie her chip on properly.. seriously though… I swear the plastic broke!).

It turns out I ran a PB of 1:31:45 which I was thrilled with.. although not as thrilled as I was to get to cross the finish for the second time with my Dad, who ran his first half marathon in 2:07:20.. not too shabby for a 50 something golfer/curler who ran his first race ever at the 2010 Vancouver Sun Run.. Stay tuned for a father/daughter appearance at the 2011 BMO Vancouver Marathon!? We shall see…:)

Anyways back to to reality in Southern Ontario..

After my pool time I waddled down to Zehrs in the afternoon sun to pick up my groceries for the busy week ahead as well as get the essentials for making butternut squash/yammie soup for dinner tonight and throughout the week.

I got the recipe from Peas and Thank You, a hilarious and super resourceful bloggie I have just started reading.. why I have not started following  Mama Pea before now I am not quite sure!

Here is her recipe.. With my alterations!

Roasted Squash and White Bean Soup

• 1 medium onion, in large chunks (I used 2 medium red onions)
• 2 c. roasted winter squash (golden nugget, kabocha, butternut, pumpkin, etc.)***  (I used 1 smallish butternut squash and one sweet potato)
• 3 c. organic vegetable broth
• One 15 oz. can white beans (cannelini, Great Northern, etc.), drained and rinsed (I used 1 can of white kidney beans)
• 1 clove garlic, minced (I used three.. haha)
• 1 t. curry powder
• 1/4 t. garam masala (Omitted because I couldn’t find this in the spice area and I was about to miss the last bus!)
• salt and pepper to taste
• additional spices to taste, i.e. stevia or sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, etc. (I used pumpkin pie spice, garlic powder, lots of salt and pepper as well as I grated fresh ginger into the mixture before processing)
• optional soup toppings: crumbled tempeh bacon or vegetarian sausage, pumpkin seeds, dried cranberries, etc. (I topped my bowl with pumpkin seeds, cinnamon and ground pepper)

This soup was rather fun to make and although a bit time consuming due to my adorable but baby sized food processor, super straight forward.

Step One:

Cut and de seed squash, peel and chop onion and sweet potato and place face down on a baking sheet sprayed with cooking spray. Place in preheated 400 degree oven for about 45 mins, or until your house smells amazing and the squash is starting to become caramelized

 

Pre Cooking

After 45 minutes at 400 degrees

Step Two:

Scrape out insides of squash, cut up sweet potato chunks and peel apart onions into a large bowl (or right into your food processor if large enough).. Add the rest of the ingredients and puree in food processor.. I did mine in three batches..

After processing, place in medium saucepan and heat over med high heat (I also added some more salt, pepper and spices at this point)..

 

To befriend my soup, I took a page from the famous Caitlin at Healthy Tipping Point and in the spirit of fall and root vegetables made my very first batch of parsnip fries.. and they were totally as tasty as she claims and super simple too.. I will definitely make these again!

I peeled two parsnips and cut each into skinny fry like shapes ( they peel and smell just like a regular carrot which was surprising to me)

I then mixed the pile of fries in a wash of olive oil, salt, pepper, tex mex spice and garlic powder..

And roasted them in the oven for about 30 mins at 400 degrees..

And voila.. I had a delicious autumn and blog idol inspired dinner to inhale!

Yummmmmmmm…. and the bonus is I now have a whole pot of soup to freeze/eat during the week

… Now I best be off to pick at the leftover parnsip fries I have saved for my roomie hit the books and get to sleep early as have a rather hectic week ahead starting with 7 am pool workout in the morning..Which will be followed by an excited run home to sign up for the 2011 Boston Marathon! I cannot believe the day is here already and I must say I am pretty darn excited 🙂

Now for a lovely saying to send off with.. Yes, it may be related to a rather overplayed song I just cannot get out of my head and although it is repetitive and annoying.. it certainly does speak the truth!

…”When I see your face there’s not a thing that I would change because you’re AMAZING JUST THE WAY YOU ARE!”

Have a phenomenal week!

Al xo