Brrrrr Butternut Squash Soup

Hi There!

I am at home in Canada and it is ab-so-lute-ly freezing here! In addition to being super thankful for seat warmers in the car, being so cold makes me think of one of my favorite soup recipes - Butternut Squash. 

I didn't really measure anything when making this, so keep in mind that you should adjust to your own taste preferences! The greek yogurt creates a creamy texture but keeps your skinny conscience happy because its fat free & protein-ful.

You need:

1 butternut squash, peeled & cubed

1/2 a package of veggie stock

1 big white onion

2 pieces of garlic

garlic salt

1 cup greek yogurt (non fat)

salt & pepper

a touch of curry powder

Boil the chopped squash and onion until the are nice & soft. 

Blend in your food processor. 

 Pour it back in the pot & add your greek yogurt & spices. Stir & enjoy!

 Goes well with beer :)

Whats the weather like where you are? What do you eat when you're freezing?
I went to the barn with my mom to visit the horses. We brought them some of the gingerbread bears we had made the night before. Did you know horses like gingerbread? Well now you know :)

Merry Christmas :)

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas. I'm at home in Canada at my parent's house for the week and have been enjoying many movies (ie, Love Actually <3), eating too much, sleeping in and going to the barn. Very enjoyable. 

Last night I made gingerbread bears with my mom from a mix I found at Trader Joes. We have never been much of a gingerbread family so this was very new for all of us. The cookies turned out well but I'm still not a huge fan. I'm more of a chocolate / peanut butter person! 

This morning we opened gifts and had coffee with Bailey's. I received some great gifts, including new Lululemon pants *note, i have had most of my lululemon gear for 4+ years, so this was very, very welcomed!*, lots of chocolate, cozy socks and an ipod. Great day. 

I'm flying back to New York on the 30th but will likely head to Toronto on the 29th to see some old friends. 

How are your holidays going?

The last days of fall in Central Park...

Pretty, pretty, pretty :)

Hope you have a great Thanksgiving!

Trader Joe's Times

Hi There!

Happy Sunday :) I hope you had a great weekend. 

Last night, BF and I went to the Comic Strip comedy club near my apartment and had a great time. There was a 2 drink minimum and having been before, I knew that the Long Island Iced Tea was the best bang for our buck - its basically a glass of pure alcohol and makes even unfunny jokes extra funny. If you're on the UES and looking for a different night out, I definitely recommend it. 

A little while ago, I made BF and I special Trader Joe's dinner. I bought their Goat Cheese and Sun dried Tomato fresh ravioli, some vodka sauce, a beautiful aged Parmesan cheese and some spinach. 

 I have tried TJ's lobster ravioli and wasn't really impressed, but this stuff was awesome. It turned out to be a relatively cheap and easy / fast meal. Both BF and I loved it.

Check it out if you can!

Tomorrow my office is finally going to reopen. After a whole week off doing absolutely nothing, I'm super excited to get back and get my work done. It feels so weird not being able to get back to my clients and more than anything, its weird not having a weekday routine. I like getting up and having breakfast, getting to work, gymming if time allows and then going home! It makes the weekend that much more exciting!

I am off to do some laundry and maybe a little shopping! Hope you have a super Sunday!

Butternut Squash Mac n Cheese

Hi There!

As all of you (assuming) know, New York was hit very hard by Sandy. I hope all of you are safe and unharmed after the storm.

The night that the storm hit really hard, Monday, I was down at BF's place in the East Village. Very scary stuff. The power and water were knocked out. There were trees down everywhere and just a block or so away cars that were parked on the street were flooded. I feel terrible for the small businesses and residents that were hit badly... :(
Luckily, we were able to make our way to the Upper East Side to my place to find power + glorious hot water. My office has been closed this week as it is  down in SoHo where the damage is severe. The past few days BF and I have been attempting to work remotely, drinking wine and watching tv. Fun stuff.

In lighter news, I have been meaning to post this dish for a while. Mac n cheese is one of my favorite things in the whole wide world. Luckily, I found a lighter recipe that uses butternut squash to cut out the majority of  fatness. I copied it based on what I had and pure guess work - so no measurements will be listed below haha.

Here is what I used (sorry for the lack of measurements):

- Fresh Sage
- 1 butternut squash
- shell pasta
- vegetable broth
- garlic
- skim milk
- whole wheat crackers
- sharp Parmesan cheese

Step 1 – Cook the bag of pasta so it is al dente or with a bit of a bite to it. Set aside.

Step 2 - Peel & chop butternut squash. Maybe I have been doing this wrong all my life, but this is really, really hard. Any tips?

Step 3 – In a big pot, heat onion, garlic and butternut squash in olive oil over medium heat. Cook for about 5 minutes or until the onions are sort of clear. Add vegetable broth and sage sprigs. Cook for about 20 minutes, add milk.

Step 4 - Cook until squash is tender. Let the pot cool until you can put your hand in it & not burn yourself. Have fun testing it! I burnt myself at least twice.

Step 5 - Blend butternut squash mixture in your food processor and add to pasta in a large baking dish. 

Step 6 - Top with a handful of crush crackers + a bit of cheese. Bake at 375 for about 45 minutes.

Step 6 - Eat.

Again, I hope all of you are safe and dry after the storm. Sandy turned out to be a huge bitch and will not be forgotten - my thoughts go out to all who are still dealing with the aftermath. So thankful to be okay

ttfn.

Fall Faves

Hi There!

A few weekends ago it was Canadian Thanksgiving. Since I am friends with a bunch of other Canadians in New York City, we had a dinner party. I assure you, it was so classy and very refined. The evening may or may not have ended with me in a food coma on the floor. Oopsies.

My contributions were pumpkin pie & butternut squash risotto. 

Recipes:

- Butternut Squash Risotto: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/butternut-squash-risotto-2/

- Pumpkin Pie - http://www.pillsbury.com/recipes/easy-pumpkin-pie/5793eb83-dca1-45e0-96e1-7f73af9e282f

The risotto took quite a while to prepare but ended up being okay. It was a little bland. Next time, I'll use more garlic & veggie broth.

  

 

 I had never made pumpkin pie before and was totally surprised how easy it was. I'll definitely do this again at Christmas!

Yesterday BF and I walked around central park for the day. I was so shocked that the leaves still hadn't changed color. What the heck, right? 

Whats your favorite fall dish? Are the leaves pretty colors where you live? 

Something amazing...

Dogs in Halloween costumes! 

I saw these little guys while walking around in the East Village and immediately asked to take a picture. So cute:)

THE HULK

Summer Flashback

Hi!

I have been a very bad blogger lately! I haven't posted anything in a long, long time. 

Today I came home sick from work as I was feeling super nauseous and dizzy. The subway ride home was pretty brutal but now that I'm cozy and in my bed I'm not feeling as terrible. Yay!

Earlier this summer BF & I traveled to Grand Rapids, MI for my cousin's wedding. 

Getting to GRR from NYC was really, really difficult. To make things as infuriating as possible for myself, I decided to make a mistake booking my plane ticket and didn't realize until the night before we were supposed to fly. When I originally 'booked', my ticket was about $200. The only tickets that were available the night before were about $600 and at 6am. 

This meant that I would no longer be travelling there with my BF because he properly booked his ticket months earlier (like I thought I did). THEN icing on the cake - I somehow slept through my alarm and missed my 6am flight. I have never done that before and couldn't believe I missed a flight - on top of my inflated ticket price I had to pay a hefty change fee & was super late! Usually when I have something to get up early for, I wake up every hour on the hour before my alarm goes off. Craziness!

Anyhoo, despite the trouble we had getting there I actually did make it. Luckily, the town was very pretty and had a gorgeous beach + pier that BF and I walked along. 

So pretty right? Who knew that Michigan had such nice beaches.

It seems like so long ago and this was only August. Does anyone else feel like September just never happened?

Well, I'm going to watch some Workaholics & try to fall asleep. Later :)

The vegetarian & the carnivore

Hi!!!

I haven't written a post in a long time but I have been quite busy lately! I've had friends visiting from Canada, busy times at work and lots of social events to attend.

As some of you may know, I don't eat meat while my BF loves it. As a way to show him that I care about him, I love to make him healthy and homey dinners once in a while. Most of the time when we cook together, it ends up being fish or pizza or something else non-meaty. 

I am still new to cooking chicken - since I will never eat it, I only prepare chicken when I'm cooking for someone else. That being said, you should  know that I really hate chicken and everything about it, but I really find it interesting that it is so versatile.

To make a vegetarian meal for me and a chickentarian meal for BF, I picked up:

a couple of chicken breasts, tofu (mine) a jar of pureed basil, roma tomatoes, herb & garlic goat cheese, some quinoa and both green & yellow zucchini. 

oh, and bud light :) 

I put the goat cheese, tomatoes and basil inside the chicken & shoved it closed. Olive oil & more basil on top.

Like my pretty ring? I got it in Prague :)

I cooked this for about an hour in the oven and made the zucchini + quinoa on the stovetop.

BF's plate

my plate. note, goat cheese on zucchini is fantastic

This is my idea of compromise.

Today I got to go to the pilates class at lunchtime near my office & was so happy. I LOVE the instructor and felt soooo good after leaving. Tomorrow, I have signed up for a Soul Cycle class after work. I love Soul Cycle a lot - it kicks my ass.

This coming Wednesday is my company's annual client party and I bought a very tight dress. So obviously I've been cutting calories this week / last week at work and picking up my workouts as much as I have time to do. I'm talking Green Juice for lunch, gallons of water + spinach with beets for lunch, the odd Simplifast here n there. Your tips for slimming down quickly would be greatly appreciated ;)

I need to get to bed early! Night :)

Scallops a la Caitlin

Hi!

I can't believe tomorrow is Monday! I feel like I need 2 more days before heading back to work.

Here is something I made BF and I for dinner a little while ago - I LOVE scallops and always forget how easy they are. To go with these, I made a garlicky white wine sauce, corn and green beans. Really good!

How to make this:

1) Rinse & pat the scallops dry. Sprinkle with salt.

2) In a small pan, heat olive oil & garlic over very high heat. 

 3) Carefully place scallops in the super hot pan. Make sure they don't touch!

4) Cook each scallop for 2 minutes or so and then flip them over. Resist temptation and don't move them before flipping or you wont get a crispy crust.

perfect!

5) Gently take the scallops out of the pan & keep the stovetop on, lowering the temperature to medium-low heat.
6) Add white wine, more garlic, a bit of butter, veggie broth, a bit of flour to thicken, lemon juice and garlic salt.

whisk in the pan scraping all the little burnt bits off of the bottom

7) Stir and pour over plated scallops.

BF's dinner

Super easy and yummy!

This weekend felt busy - lots of drinking and partying. I'm super duper exhausted and feel my are eyelids getting heavy! I'm off to bed now.

How was your weekend?

Ella Lounge NYC

Ella's is a great place to go with friends. Live music, strong drinks and a jazzy atmosphere. 

I went here to see my coworker's boyfriend play a show - had a great time! One of my new favorite places.

Tomorrow I am flying to Spring Lake, MI to attend my cousins wedding on Saturday. Surprisingly, flying there is more expensive than flying to Canada or California. Crazy right?

Should be fun! I get to see the fam and go to the beach. Can't wait!

Flaws & First Love

I am a self admitted bad driver.

I get scared in the car when other people are driving (and always have).

That being said, when it became my turn to learn to drive, I was terrified. Not only did I get my license later than almost all of my friends but now that I'm living in New York I have no reason to EVER drive.

Even though I am a terrible, irresponsible and scary driver - I love to drive.

Since I got my license in very early 20s (in fact, I think I was 20 haha), I still get that rush of being free and getting to go wherever I want. Living in New York City doesn't allow me to keep a car - parking is way too expensive and I would crash into a taxi or a person or worse, a puppy.

In my last year of school, I was fortunate enough to be given a 1993 Mazda Miata from my aunt and uncle. They are very generous people and no longer needed the car but knew I needed one (and whats more, needed to learn how to properly drive).

I introduce to you, the best car ever....I named her Kelly Kapowski. I LOVE this car.

Driving around in this little 2 seater made me feel super cool.

The only problem when they gave me the car? I didn't know how to drive a standard car, let alone how to properly drive an automatic.

I feel like this car and I learned how to drive together!

We went on so many adventures (a lot of them irresponsible) and I just love this lady so much.

In fact, even though I moved to New York over 2 years ago and I have no use for this car at the time in my life, I REFUSE to sell it. It's a race car for girls! I love it too much.

Kelly Kapowski sits happily in my parents garage where it is taking up space. Is it a bit rude that I am taking up my parent's 1 car garage with my unused car? Yes, and I feel ultra guilty! BUT, I just can't bear the thought of someone else driving my car. It is mine and I want it waiting for me when I return to Canada / finished in New York which could be 1 year, 2 years even 3-4 years from now.

Well there you have it - my totally irrational and embarrassing obsession with my 1993 red car.

I hope I still know how to drive when I leave Manhattan!

After work tomorrow I am going to an event I bought tickets to on Gilt City. Here is the description:

General admission for one to Bliss Spa & Crunch Cel"AB"ration event with hosts Ashley Hebert & J.P. Rosenbaum from "The Bachelorette" on Wednesday August 15, 2012 from 7 - 10 PM at Crunch Gym• Five-day pass to Crunch• All drinks sponsored by Skinnygirl• Best Abs contest and Ab Brag photo booth• Mini treatments from Bliss Spa• Chats and tips from Crunch trainers• Pole-dancing and belly-dancing demonstrations• Dating tips from Wise Matchmaking

Should be fun - I am obsessed with The Bachelor / The Bachelorette!! I'll let you know how it goes!

Night.

Rockaway Beach

Rockaway beach is just an easy subway ride from Manhattan. It's free, relatively clean and uncrowded - a nice little escape from the filthy heat!

Fun, right? I went here with a few girlfriends recently!

This weekend I am travelling to Spring Lake, MI for my cousin's wedding. BF and I are headed down a day early to check out the beach. Should be fun! I haven't seen my family in a while so I'm really looking forward to it.

The summer is just flying by - I can't believe it. Its like I just realized it was summer this week and its almost over.

Anyhoo - I must get ready for bed because I have to get to work early tomorrow!

Night!