Tag Archives: Butternut Squash

Spinach Spinach Spinach + A Confession

Posted on September 8, 2014 | Leave a comment

Today was what I call a ‘bad food day’. Everything I made just didn’t seem to go well and you’re left in a pretty bad mood.

One downside of living alone is that you don’t eat up vegetables or meats quick enough and they end up going off. The big bag of spinach I bought has been looking questionable since two days ago but I’ve been picking out the slightly decomposed leaves and have been trying my best to use them up.

I definitely think the solution to this problem is to make soups right from the start and store them in your fridge or freezer.

Here is what I ate today.

For lunch I decided to try to make Butternut Squash Flatbread, only to realise I had no coconut flour or gelatine. Given that I was hungry after the gym I decided to just try combining the squash with arrowroot powder (starch alternative) and this was the result.

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Kind of ‘bread-y’….

I think whipped up a vegetable and tuna stir fry to put on top:

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Taste. Hmph. Might as well have just mashed some butternut squash, it was just mushy but very very starchy mushy so wasn’t that pleasant.

Later in the day I acquired some coconut flour so I decided to make some Butternut Squash Cookies:

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Again this wasn’t too great either, felt a bit dry and bland.

I had to have a late dinner today due to tutoring and so I made asparagus, spinach and avocado soup:

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I won’t bother writing the recipe down because it didn’t taste great 🙁

Next I have to make a confession regarding my sugar fast declaration: when I opened the fridge I found three chocolate puddings. All of them would go off in a months time so I thought I’d just finish these off and then go on the sugar fast. So I ate one. Then I felt so crap about having broken the fast so soon I threw away the other chocolate puddings (they were dirt cheap anyways). So my fast now starts from tomorrow and ends on October 9th.

So to not fall asleep feeling down I’m going to list some good things that I did today:

  • Yoga
  • Kept paleo (apart from the chocolate pud)
  • It was a nice sunny day
  • Tutored

Peace out.

 

 

 

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Bye Bye Sugar

Posted on September 8, 2014 | Leave a comment

I’m having a binge eating problem and it’s probably psychosomatic. When I say ‘binge eating’ the worst that it’s gotten is that I’ve eaten two bars of chocolate and a cookie all at once, but all day every day I’m constantly suffering from the need to put something in my mouth even though I’m not hungry.  It’s very uncomfortable and frustrating.

While I’m trying to find out the root of this problem I need a combat, or at least a coping, strategy. I’m guessing meditation will help calm the restlessness I’m constantly feeling, so I’ll try that every day (and I’m starting a meditation course next week).

When I binge, I have managed so far to resist the urge to binge on carbs despite there being two huge bags of corn chips and popcorn in the cupboard. But As mentioned by the chocolate binge earlier, I let myself snack on sugar. Does it help? Only during the 20 secs that I’m actually eating the chocolate.

So, like with the paleo diet, I am declaring that for a month from this day on (till Oct 8th) I will cut sugar from my diet, including chocolate. When I say cut ‘sugar’, I am referring to processed sugar. I will stick to fruits for now. I hate the fact that I’m cutting my no 1 comfort food, but I also know it’s my ‘favourite’ because I’m just addicted to it when I have problems. When I’m back in Japan, surrounded by family and happy I hardly need to eat chocolate. In fact, I don’t really want it.

Besides, numbing pain isn’t a solution.

I’ve also been constantly entertaining the idea of a juice fast. My stomach irritation/serotonin deficiency syndrome has gotten a lot milder on the paleo diet, and my allergies have virtually disappeared, but it’s not enough. My gut feeling (this joke is going to get old) is that my whole digestive track just needs a big break so the chronic irritation can stop. I think this month is the best time to do it because I don’t have intense work. I’ll start off with a one-day juice fast and will extend it if I feel a bit better (though I hear three days are necessary to really feel the effects). I’ll say here when I’ll be going on a juice fast, probably sometime this week, so stay tuned.

I’m not doing it today for the simple and childish reason that I desperately want to try to make 1) Butternut Squash Cookies and 2) Butternut Squash Flatbread (can you tell that I have a carb-binge eating craving?).

Making changes slowly so I don’t crash….

Stay tuned!

Marie

 

 

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Be Kind to Your Gut

Posted on September 7, 2014 | Leave a comment

I had an awful night last night. Couldn’t sleep, stomach irritated, felt a bit epileptic. The culprit at the end of the day seemed to be the mildly spicy curry I had. I’ll lay off any heavy spices for awhile.

On the bright side my depression has lifted significantly. I really think yesterday’s mood crash was due to the phytic acid. Also, I had a few pimples today – evidence that my body was getting rid of something.

I now have a list of foods I’m intolerant/don’t digest well/allergic to:

  • Honey
  • Crustacians
  • Wheat
  • Rice
  • Soy (mild portions ok, fermented like natto ok)
  • Milk
  • Chilli
  • Soba (mild portions ok)
  • Alcohol
  • Sugar
  • Phytic Acid in nuts/seeds

I’m sure the list will grow as my food journey continues but it’s nice to have a proper list to remind me.

So, to help mend my gut a bit, I made myself a delicious super veggie spinach soup.

Marie’s Paleo Super Green Spinach Soup

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Paleo Spinach Soup – it’s super green and delicious!

Ingredients: Onions, garlic, chicken stock, butternut squash, courgette, LOTS of spinach, coconut oil, mango, basil

1) Fry the onion and garlic in coconut oil till soft and brown.

2) Add the courgette and butternut squash, stir around, then add the chicken stock. Season with salt and pepper. Let it brew till everything is soft.

3) Add the spinach and stir till wilted.

4) Put in blender some mango (just enough to sweeten), basil, and the soup mixture.

5) Blend and enjoy.

Once again I’m amazed at how tasty home made soups are. They’re fresh and hardly seasoned – yet flavourful. You really can’t go back to buying supermarket goods!

Peace out.

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Win Some, Lose Some: Maguro Peperoncino and Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

Posted on September 4, 2014 | Leave a comment

Some days you have good cooking days, some days you have bad. Today was both.

Today in the morning, I was delighted to find in the fish section of ASDA a fresh slab of tuna for three pounds. Wanting to eat just a bit more than sashimi, I concocted another ‘zoodle’ – zucchini noodle – dish (see previous post). I attempted to make it peperoncino style. I fried some onion, garlic and chilli, and then added the microwaved the zoodles. Didn’t really work too well. Zoodles, as nice as they are, are a bit soggy, so you just end up with a mushy stir-fry. I’m right now thinking of a way to dry them up a bit to give them a more noodle-y texture. Onions were a mistake – far too overpowering.

Will have another go soon.

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My peperoncino zoodles w/ raw tuna (Maguro)

After the lunch disappointment, things were brought back later during dinner. I decided to make Roasted Butternut Squash Soup (recipe here). This recipe is so simple, yet incredible! I didn’t expect it to taste as good as it did.

Some extra tweaks: I added a bit of ground ginger to the marinade. I also roasted the seeds from the butternut squash, roasted them w/ a bit of salt, and added them later to garnish. Mmmmmmmmm. Perfect soup for the winter.

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Roasted butternut squash soup, garnished with oven-toasted butternut squash seeds and coriander.

Did make me think – I often buy butternut squash soup from the supermarket. If you look on the back there are so many ingredients, including things such as potatoes and corn starch. This recipe only has butternut squash, apples and onions. Nothing more. Yet it tastes far more flavourful than anything you would get in the shops.

Food for thought.

As yummy as the soup was, I didn’t feel satiated enough without some protein. So I ate the rest of the tuna.

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Post-dinner snack: Tuna sashimi.

What I did struggle with today were snacks. I taught a Zumba class which meant my sugar levels were very, very low in the afternoon. Eating fruit didn’t help and I had to escalate to a huge hot chocolate. I know that because I’ve been eating starches such as wheat, as well as things such as chocolate, my sugar levels are still very mercurial. I sugar crash a lot. If I hit rock bottom I desperately need a pick me up. I’m hoping to discover some alternative snacks to help me along instead of going straight cold turkey on sugar.

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