CRAVINGS!

I love it how my body naturally craves things when they are in season! Like Christmas time, I ALWAYS crave oranges. Fresh naval oranges. In Arizona they are nice and wonderfully ripe right at Christmas. (if my parents brought some to us when they visit us for Christmas, I certainly will NOT complain!) In early summer I crave berries. In the fall I crave apples and butternut squash stuff!

Like right now, I am craving butternut squash soup, the one a friend of mine made at her little pastry shop. Sadly the shop isn't around anymore but man I crave that stuff! Tonight I am making pumpkin soup courtesy of Trader Joe's. But I have made this, and will make this recipe again of butternut squash soup!

Roasted Butternut Squash Soup - CHOW

INGREDIENTS

• 4 pounds whole butternut squash (about 2 medium), halved lengthwise and seeds removed
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter (1/4 stick)
• 1 medium Granny Smith apple (about 8 ounces)
• 1/2 medium yellow onion
• 8 fresh sage leaves
• 2 1/2 cups low-sodium vegetable or chicken broth
• 2 1/2 cups water
• 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt, plus more as needed
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more as needed
• 1/3 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 cup toasted pumpkin seeds, for garnish (optional)

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Heat the oven to 425°F and arrange a rack in the middle.
2. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Place the squash pieces cut-side up on the baking sheet. Melt 1 tablespoon of the butter and brush all of it over the tops and insides of the squash halves (alternatively, you can rub it on evenly with your fingers). Season generously with salt and pepper. Roast until knife tender, about 50 minutes to 1 hour.
3. Meanwhile, peel, core, and cut the apple into medium dice. Cut the onion into medium dice. Melt the remaining tablespoon of butter in a large saucepan or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the apple, onion, and sage, season with salt and pepper, and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 7 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and set aside.
4. When the squash is ready, set the baking sheet on a wire rack until the squash is cool enough to handle. Using a large spoon, scoop the flesh into the saucepan with the sautéed apples and onions; discard the skins.
5. Add the broth, water, and measured salt and pepper, stir to combine, and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat to medium low and simmer, stirring occasionally and breaking up any large pieces of squash, until the flavors meld, about 15 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the cream.
6. Using a blender, purée the soup in batches until smooth, removing the small cap (the pour lid) from the blender lid and covering the space with a kitchen towel (this allows steam to escape and prevents the blender lid from popping off). Alternatively, use an immersion blender. Taste and season with salt and pepper as needed. Serve garnished with the pumpkin seeds, if using.

ENJOY! 

October Week 1 Recap

October already. I love October. It is magical. The fog that rests on the open meadows in the early morning and late evenings. The changing leaves and the awesome Blood Moon that is going to be happening on the 8th is pretty cool too! Halloween is coming up and right now I am looking for our family group costume ideas. And trying to get all our outfits together for our family pictures. I am doing a lot of clothing coordination but I think I have the family outfits planned out well.

This past week has been a doozy for the Allen family. I have been under the weather. I had planned on doing so much more than I did. Especially with my workouts, but I think I just had a linger bug that was knocking me on my butt with exhaustion. Every change I got, I rested. I was even in bed by 8pm one of the nights. Working out took a back seat for me, but I did so some yoga poses to help me relax and de-compress and get rid of this bug that was invading my body. I was finally feeling better by Friday. Planned on doing a run on Saturday morning, but slept in way too late and had a birthday party to get the family ready for. But coming up in a few weeks, no more missing runs because I will be at training! Excited for it to begin and to see the progress I make. November I go back to the gym too so I will be able to do more running at the gym and still plan on doing my workouts at home with Matt. I will not gain weight this holiday season!

Big news too with Mason. He no longer wants to keep his diaper on. So on to potty training we go. Man it has been a power struggle in this house. He will tell me he needs to go and will now go to the potty and pee. But he refuses to poo on the potty (I think he just went out back like the dog by the way!) So that is a work in progress. And if we put undies on him he will pee in the undies. I ordered boxer brief undies and they will be here mid week to hopefully help this area. But we are adjusting. He is telling me he needs to go pee and will go by himself, but he is running around naked butt and will not keep pull ups on or a diaper on and it is off in the morning and at the end of the mommy quiet time, every single day. And I have had to clean up a lot of accidents. It has been no fun. At all. (we have tried sticker charts, candy, a promise of a potty party, books, stories, singing, apps on the phone. But he is just stubborn!)

Collin is doing well too. He is back to sleeping through the night and only doing one very early morning feeding right now. If it were at 5 I would be happier but it is at 4am. Too early to do workout, but I might just have to suck it up and do a workout at 4am! Oh that hurts thinking about it! Next week I will get to talk about his new sleeping arrangements!

Workout Recap:
Sunday: rest
Monday:  20 minutes postnatal yoga DVD
Tuesday: 20 minutes pilates DVD
Wednesday: rest
Thursday: 20 min postnatal yoga DVD
Friday: 20 minutes pilates DVD
Saturday: rest

Keep in mind I have been potty training Mason and he would only go pee in the upstairs bathroom. I wish I had a fitbit to tell me how many flights of stairs I climbed. We have a 3 level house by the way! By Wednesday I noticed that my legs weren't as sore or I wasn't out of breath as I was on Monday. So progress.

 

New Disney Bling!

Isn't this a beauty! Oh my, oh my, I have a new prize to eye! The way to earn this is to participate in the Disney Princess 1/2 marathon and then the following weekend take a little disney cruise and run the Castaway Cay 5K.

All I know that if I decide to do this I will have to save for awhile because I will want to spend some time at the parks between the race and the cruise! This does come at a pretty hefty price tag, especially if your family tags along. Which why wouldn't they!?! IT IS A DISNEY CRUISE!

QOTD: Would you do this at least once to earn this medal? 

Man, Can't Believe This Is Happening

Mason is in the middle of potty training. I have wanted to throw in the towel a few times today, but haven't. He has gone pee in the potty more than on the floor, and is now having fun, now that there is some chocolate involved. So wish us luck. Oh and it kind of backfired on me because he wants to be naked or commando. No undies. So we are working on that. At least I can tell him that if he goes pee he goes back in a diaper and he isn't happy about that idea!

Also, Collin can easily roll from tummy to back now. And he is taking his first nap in his crib in the nursery.

Too many changes! This momma is tired. Time for my nap!

September Week 4 Recap

I am so glad that this week is over and done with. I have been anticipating that this week be done, that I just make it to the 27th because that meant that my house was sold and I would not have to worry about making a double mortgage payment, nor would we be stressing about the closing process. So FINALLY! This week is over and done with and the house is SOLD! I feel like I can breath now.

In other news, Collin is finally almost sleeping through the night again. He dropped one feeding through the night this week, so no more waking up at midnight to feed. We are at a 2am feed then his regular4:30- 5am feed. If he continues to feed at 4:30-5 I am going to work extra hard to exercise afterwards because I need to do it first thing in the morning. Maybe I can get the hubs to do it with me then since it is only 30 min. Oh and he loves standing! I am not ready for him to start walking. He was standing against his walker and holding himself up, but of course as I snapped the pix Matt had his hands there just in case! But the kid is going to walk early!

Matt has been working out with me during the week. We need to be better about it and not being too tired at night when we can workout together. So finding this common ground is key! but he is enjoying the workouts just as much as I am, and I think I am kicking his butt. (He is also doing a workout earlier in the day, so really he is doing pretty well he is just so tired!)

Workout Recap: 
Sunday: rest
Monday: Total Body Cardio
Tuesday: Upper Body fix
Wednesday: Lower body fix & 10 min ab fix!
Thursday: Pilates fix
Friday: rest- we were exhausted and all of us in the house were out light a light by 8pm
Saturday: 3.25 mile run! I went running, yea, yea, yea! It was great. I hurt like crazy yesterday and had to take a nap but that's ok! I still ran! (10 miler training begins in 3 weeks!)

This weeks goals: 
~Potty train Mason. Yep you heard that right. He is struttin' around half naked right now. He has yet to go on the potty. Had 1 accident because he doesn't want to sit on the potty. But we are working on it. He won't keep his diaper on anymore, or his hands out of his diaper. He is ready but he doesn't want to be. (scratch that, he just went full on pee on the wood floor then playing in it! EWWW!)
~Run 2 times this week. I am going to try to run on Thursday either at Matt's gym on the treadmill or around the neighborhood. (Man the hills in my hood are awful!)
~Still eating clean. Need to be better. No more cheats, but I am down 2 lbs from when I started the 21 day fix. (i went up 1 lb from last week because I messed up on my portions! I am still learning!)