Honeynut Squash soup-slow cooker style

I will be totally honest. I have never heard of a honeynut squash before in my life. I get the bulk of my produce and groceries from an online company and when I saw this item in the produce choice, I had to try. It’s kind of the fun part of buying my produce online. I see things I often don’t see in my local grocery store. Like the cactus pears we had two weeks ago. Not my cup of tea but they were pretty. Maybe they should have been tossed in a smoothie.

Back to my honey nut squash. These are a cute little sibling to the butternut squash. They had a warm honey color and a much easier skin to cut through. Making getting them ready for soup a breeze. They taste similar to the butternut. Maybe a bit nuttier in flavor but the same when I tried a piece I cooked just for tasting.

I made the following recipe up on a chilly afternoon when I had stuff to do and just wanted to know a nice dinner was waiting for me. You could definitely do this on a stovetop in a pot and if you can’t find honey nut squash you could substitute one large butternut squash. 

Don’t worry about chopping up your veggies all pretty. You’re going to use an emulsion blender or a regular blender at the end to make it all smooth.

Fall Honeynut Squash Soup

Ingredients:

• 2-3 honeynut squash-peeled, seeded and diced
• 1 onion chopped
• 1 large red pepper chopped
• 3 cloves of garlic cut in half
• 2 small potatoes, peeled and chopped
• 1 can of diced green chilies
• 2-3 tsp of cumin
• 2-3 tsp of coriander
• 3 tsp of Mexican chili powder (use less or more to your liking)
• Red pepper flakes (to taste or leave out)
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Water or vegetable broth (about 5- 6 cups)
• Chopped cilantro to garnish

What to do:

1. Place all your vegetables in a slow cooker with seasonings. 
2. Add enough water or vegetable broth to cover the veggies.
3. Put the lid on your slow cooker and set the timer for 6 hours.
4. After 6 hours use an emulsion blender to make a very smooth soup.
5. Taste and add seasonings to taste. 
6. Top with chopped cilantro and serve with a salad or a grilled cheese for a main meal.

What is a Country Style Rib? And other ponderings.

Lately I keep looking at this blog and wanting to change it. I have a feeling in the next couple of weeks it will look different. The urge to rearrange and make it more user friendly is becoming more of need than a want for me lately. I see it moving up on my to-do list. 

 
Lots of things are changing. I don’t know why this surprises me so much at times. Really there is no constant or normal in life. It is always changing. Change is the only thing that one can really count on. What I am use to today will be different weeks, months and years from now. I can say, “when my kids were this age (fill in the blank), it was some of the best times for our family”. But really I can say that at any time. Sure my dinner table is not filled with my kids and I ponder if we need this huge farmhouse table my husband built anymore. But now I have time to get to know this guy I have been married to for 26 year too.  It’s a different time for us. Something we have never had since we got married and then started our family.  I am also am getting to know me. I have more time to myself these days. To do those things I said I would do. To try things I thought I wouldn’t  have guessed I would do.   Change is always happening. While I love the comfort of a routine and to have those around me I love, it’s not always possible and I have to look within to find the comfort I need. To put my hopes in anyone or anything else to provide that sense of grounding is just not right. It is expecting to much of others. I am responsible for my own happiness. 

Then there is the change that comes in the stuff your use to having. Say like a gas bbq girll in the backyard.  I can’t even remember when we bought it. I know I was so excited for my husband to have such a nice grill. We had a green weber charcoal grill before that. But we were new homeowners and while the charcoal grill was great, we wanted the big silver grill in the yard as we had a large family and had their friends over a lot. Ok hoenstly I was terrified the flames form the charcoal grill being used on our decks off our kitchenw ere going to catch the wood shingles on our house on fire. So enter the gas grill and the above ground pool stage in our life. 

 Recently the grill in my opinion died. There I was looking at new grills on line when my husband walks in and says “what you doing?” I tell him and he then shares with me he ordered the parts for way less than the full cost of our girll to fix it.  The parts arrive, a trip or two to the local hardward shop for a few nuts and bolts to fix something else and viola, it’s fixed.  My husband has always been fabulous at fixing things. I’ve addmitted it was in the top five reasons for marrying him. 

Summer is that time for using the grill and cooking outside so we don’t heat up the kitchen. So this was a bit different to not have a grill to cook on. I was looking through the local grocery store flyer and saw that Country style ribs were on sale. My first thought was let’s grill those tasty suckers up. But the grill was not fixed as of yet. So I went  looking for something else. In my hunt, I discovered that country style ribs are not ribs at all.

So what are they? Well they are from the shoulder. Sometimes they have the bone in them , like I used in the recipe below, or they are boneless. They are part of the loin so really the name is Pork Loin Country Style Ribs.  I know they have great flavor and are much cheaper than ribs with more meat and well this past week they were a steal at my loal store.

With the grill broken and a hot Sunday ahead it was crockpot time. I debated tossing them in with a dry rub. Then I thought of making a sauce. My thoughts then went Asian.  I found the following recipe at Manilaspoon.com  

Everyone loved them. Which I think I have mentioned before I am now feeding a house full of guys. This was easy too. I just popped it all in before I left for Yoga class. Came home, enjoyed my day and later made up the Asian Slaw to go with it and we were sitting around the table eating before going out to garden in the cooler evening air. 

  
Crockpot Asian Syle BBQ Country Style Ribs

• 3/4 cup of brown sugar
• 1/4 cup of honey (real honey)
• 1/2 cup of soy sauce or Tamari
•  1/2 cup of ketchup ( no HFCS in it, Trader Joe’s brand organic brands don’t have HFCS in them)
• 3 TBLS of Sweet Chili Sauce ( Again no HFCS in it)
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 knob of fresh ginger, minced
• 1 tsp celtic sea salt
• fresh ground black pepper to taste
• 1 tsp red chili flakes (optional but add if you want a little kick)
• 5lbs of Country Style Pork Ribs

1. In a bowl mix all the ingredient for the sauce together with a whisk. 
2. Dip each rib into the sauce to get it coated and place in crockpot.
3. Pour remaining sauce over ribs in crockpot and put the lid on it.
4. Cook on low for 7-8 hrs.
5. Enjoy!

Why am I saying to avoid HFCS (high fructose corn syrup).  I do it as I have an allergy to it. I get headaches, cystic like acne on my face and bad fatique from it.  BUT if you are trying to loose weight, get healtheir or just plane feel good, you should skip this crappy sweetener like it’s poison.  Simply cutting HFCS out of your diet can help you big time with weight loss.

Give it a try for a few weeks. See how you feel. I’d love to hear from you.

Blessings and good health!

Shelly

Certified Holistic Helath Coach, registered with the American Association of Drugless Practritioners

Reiki Practitioner

Turkey isn’t just for November. (Green Chili Turkey Burgers)

Monday is the big kick off day for Shelly’s 10 Day Kick Sugar Challenge. Got a great group of folks together who are learning all kinds of things about sugar and how it is the real enemy isn’t fat but it’s sugar when your trying to loose weight. Also that sugar can mess with everything from hormones , diabetes, cancer, heart disease infertility, impotence and even depression.

If your interested in joining this FREE online group, email me at Shellyowens88@gmail.com. 

One thing I admit that I love is a good greasy cheeseburger with bacon. There is nothing wrong with a good cheeseburer to be honest, if you hae one every now and then.  The issue usually lies in the sugar in the white bun, the fries and the soda (diet or not) that people wash a good burger down with.  I wanted a burger but the idea of making my own burger, skipping the bun and cheese while on the sugar kick, got me sort of sad. But this easy to make turkey burger is full on flavor, can be put in a large piece of lettuce as a wrap or even put on top of a salad and taken to work as leftovers.   I served it with a nice corn & tomato salad that is super easy to toss together while you got your burgers on the grill or ahead of time and chill.

  
Green Chili Turkey Burgers

• ground turkey 2lbs
• 1 can of diced chili peppers
• 1 small red onion , diced
• a bunch of cilantro, chopped
• 3 tsp cummin
• 3 tsp chili powder or chipolte powder
• 2 tsp paprika
• salt and pepper 

1. Mix all ingredients in a bowl.
2. Form into patties
3. Grill or broil.

I served with a dalop of freshly mashed avocados mixed with lime juice and salt.

Corn & Tomato Salad

• 2 cans of organic corn (check for no sugar), drained
• 1 pint of cherry tomatoes , halved
• green onion , chopped
• 1 small can of sliced black olives (optional)
• salt and pepper to taste

1. mix everying in a large bowl.
2. Serve right then or chill in the fridge.