HI Everyone,
How was your weekend? Mine was pretty good! However being that it is now Sunday, I am exhausted. I kind of had a lazy Sunday!! I planned on baking and doing lots of things on my Sunday but I really didn’t do too much once the afternoon hit. Basically it was doing laundry, cleaning out the fridge and prepping my meals for the week. Now I am just chilling out and writing my blog.
This morning, even though I was feeling lazy, I did managed to get in 30 minutes of cardio. It felt great afterwards. For breakfast I wasn’t feeling like making anything to much and I was really thirsty, so I whipped together this wonderful, creamy pumpkin smoothie.
I made this smoothie with pumpkin, greek yogurt, a frozen banana, fat-free milk, pumpkin pie spice and maple syrup. It came together nicely. It’s creamy, light, sweet and tastes just like pumpkin. I loved it so much I’m making it for breakfast to take to work tomorrow. It’s only 156 calories, 4 grams of fiber and almost 15 grams of protein. It kept me filled up for a few hours!
I did do a little grocery shopping at Trader Joe’s this morning to pick up some odds and ends and to start my week off eating healthy! I took a pledge that next month I will try to stay away from processed foods. That’s going to be tough, but I can do it!! Here’s what I bought at TJ’s. There’s a few new items hidden in there Can you find them?
Did you spot them? Well my Friends I have some good news for you! It’s back….
So happy it’s back!! I was shocked not to see it on their new item shelf, even though it’s not really a new item. But when I was going down the aisle there it was, calling me to buy it!! So I did!!
Speaking of squash, the lady at Trader Joe’s saw that I was buying a butternut squash and she told me you can eat the skin. She said Jamie Oliver said he does it. So I googled it, and guess what? He does! So I thought I would give it a try!
Sure enough it worked and it was pretty darn tasty. The skin is not tough, maybe a little chewy, but it’s not bad at all!! I will be doing this for now on. It beats peeling the squash. The texture kind of reminds me of an apple. To make this squash, I cut the top and the bottom, placed the squash upright and cut down the middle. With a spoon I took out the seeds and stringy stuff. I sliced it into pieces. Placed on a parchment lined baking sheet and added 2 tbsp. olive oil, a sprinkle of salt, pepper, cinnamon and cayenne pepper. Roasted it in a 400 degree oven for about 30 minutes, flipping half way through. Cook until fork tender. It was pretty easy! You should try it!!
I bought the new Food Network October magazine and I found this chart, which I thought was pretty nice. I took a picture of it so I can share it with you!
Pretty handy little chart!! I didn’t know there was that many kinds of squash!
- ⅓ cup pumpkin
- ¼ banana, frozen
- ¼ cup non-fat milk or coconut milk
- ½ cup plain greek yogurt, non-fat
- ¾tsp. vanilla extract
- 1 tsp. maple syrup
- ½ tsp. stevia or extra 1 tsp. maple syrup
- ¾ tsp. pumpkin pie spice
- 4 ice cubes
- Mix all the ingredients in a blender. Process until smooth.
It seems like a squash kind of day! Do you like squash? If so what is your favorite kind? I plan on making lots more squash recipes this week!!
I also want to let you know I updated the Trader Joe’s page.
Have a wonderful week!!!
Toodles,
Jen
P.S. I just think this picture is cool! The sun is shining on my pumpkin smoothie!!
