Butternut Squash Soup

I love a hearty soup in the winter months. This soup could even be a meal on its own and freezes well. I usually make a big batch of it and freeze it in quart containers for another day!

What you will need: 

One 2 lb butternut squash, peeled and cut into cubes 

1 large apple, peeled, cored and cut up 

1 medium yellow onion, cut into 4 wedges 

 2 tbsp olive oil 

 1 tsp salt 

 ½ tsp black pepper 

 1 garlic clove 

 1 tsp dried thyme 

4 cups low sodium vegetable or chicken broth 

Directions: 

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Line a baking sheet with foil. 

Place the squash, apple, garlic and onion on the baking sheet. Drizzle with the olive oil, season with salt and pepper, and toss to combine. Roast in the oven until fork tender, about 40 to 45 minutes. 

In a large pot, bring the chicken broth and spices to a low boil over high heat. Add the squash, apple, garlic and onion. Lower the heat to a simmer, with the lid cracked, and cook for about 20 minutes. 

Remove from the heat. 

Use an immersion blender and blend until smooth and creamy. Season the soup with additional salt and pepper to taste. 

Enjoy!

Post Juice Cleanse Healthy Muffins

As part of my New Year's Resolution I promised myself that I would exercise more and eat healthier this year.  Normally, my motivation for my resolution gets thrown out the window a few weeks after January 1st rolls around.  But, this year it's almost Summer and I'm still sticking to my plan!
I started my resolution by doing a 3 day juice fast from Healthy Blender Girl {the winter juice} and plan to do it every season {every 3 months.}  I know what you're thinking…that's impossible or that the results don't last. But let me tell you, it was definitely hard the first day.  I was starving and wanted to quit only a few hours in! But, by day 2 I was feeling better and actually felt satisfied with my juices and midday herbal teas.  

After successfully completing all 3 days of juicing, I weighed in.  I had lost 4 pounds!  While this may not seem a lot for some people, that was really all I wanted to lose.  
The next 3 days I needed to restrict my intake to raw veggies and fruits.  This part was easy because I had a ton of my juicing veggies and fruits left over.  The next 3 days I was able to introduce other meat/dairy items back into my diet.  
That is where this recipe comes in.  The muffin base is an adaptation to my Pumpkin Bread recipe.  Swap out the pumpkin puree with your leftover day 2 midday carrot/butternut squash pulp that you saved after straining it from your juice.  This pulp still has a lot of the vitamins left in it, and great flavor!

*PS notice my new carrot logo on my photos? From now on I am going to add this to my healthy posts!

What you will need:

1 cup flour
1 ¼ tsps. baking powder
½ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp. salt
2 slightly beaten egg whites
½ cup leftover juice cleanse pulp½ cup sugar
¼ cup canola oil
Nonstick spray
2 muffin pans

In a medium mixing bowl stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.

In a large mixing bowl whisk together egg whites, juice pulp, sugar, and oil.

Stir flour mixture into juice pulp mixture until well incorporated.

Liberally spray your muffin pans with nonstick spray.
Spread batter into pans and bake at 350° for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Another variation I tried for these muffins was my day 2 evening juice of broccoli/romaine/cilantro pulp.

 Enjoy!

Any questions or comments about juicing just ask away!