Experimentation: A Three Course Fully Squashy Meal

As the title suggests, I decided to cook up a huge meal consisting of some type of squash as the main ingredient for an appetizer, entree and dessert. The pictures are abhorrent, and again wine was involved, so please forgive me for taking photos of everything after half of it was already chewed up and digested. I really need to get better about that. We were all so merry and drinking wine that I completely forgot about taking photos for my blog post until after I'd already desecrated each entree. The reason for the jolliness was not just because the food was so amazing (even though it was). We were also celebrating Roy's sister Jennifer's birthday! I decided our family dinner night would be a great opportunity to cook a fully vegan dinner and to get feedback on the different recipes I was trying. And since Jennifer was born in the fall season, I thought it would be perfect to use fall seasonal produce.


The first step was to create a menu. I opted for a Thai Curry and Coconut Butternut Squash Soup, followed by Spaghetti Squash Spaghetti (or as you may now know it, my Lasagna Cake), and ending on a sweet note with Grain Free Pumpkin Bars with an icing you may remember from my By Accident Sugar Cookie Kale Chips Recipe. I'll explain...

For the butternut squash soup, I didn't follow the recipe entirely. The changes I made are as follows:

1. I didn't have kaffir lime leaves and had no idea where to buy them.
2. I used coconut oil instead of grapeseed oil.
3. I added a lot more than 1-2 tsp of the thai red curry paste because we all agreed the soup needed more kick
4. While I did roast the butternut squash, and sauteed the onion, ginger and garlic, once those items were done cooking, I threw all the ingredients into my Vitamix and blended for fifteen minutes at a pretty high variable (7-10). 

Blending the soup!

After 15 minutes of blending, the soup was piping hot, and I added what I felt was missing from the flavor; more thai curry paste, more salt, some fresh ginger, etc. I had everyone do a taste test until they all agreed the soup absolutely positively could not be better. I agreed. It was heaven. And the color is so gorgeous, like a setting golden sun. Ahh...

You may be able to see from the picture that I served the soup topped with roasted pepitas (pumpkin seeds) and cilantro. I highly recommend the cilantro. I found so many recipes of butternut squash soup, and everyone uses something different. You'll find everything from popcorn to pomegranate
seeds to almond slivers. But trust me on this one, add the chopped up cilantro.

Thai Curry and Coconut Butternut Squash Soup topped with pepitas and cilantro

Here's my recipe, adapted from eclecticcook.com (who adapted it from disneyfamily.com).

Thai Curry and Coconut Butternut Squash Soup
Adapted from eclecticcook.com

1 large butternut squash, about 2 pounds
1 tbsp oil, I used  coconut oil
¼ cup onion, minced
1 TBS freshly grated ginger
2 cloves garlic
1-2 TBS Thai Red Curry paste (+ or - depending on your heat preference)
4 cups chicken broth
14 oz coconut milk (I used Silk brand Coconut Milk)
1 tsp salt (I used Himalayan Sea Salt)
2 TBS freshly squeezed lime juice
Cilantro, chopped (for garnish. Optional but highly recommended)
Pepitas (for garnish)

Preheat over to 400°F. Cut the squash in half lengthwise and remove the seeds. Brush the cut sides of the squash with oil and place cut side down on a baking sheet or baking tin.  Roast for 45 minutes to 1 hour or until very tender. The squash should have a creamy texture. Once the squash has cooled enough to handle, scoop the flesh out of the peel using a spoon.
 

Sauté onion, garlic and ginger until lightly brown. 

Add scooped out butternut squash flesh into the blender, along with sauteed onion, garlic and ginger. Blend

Add in remaining ingredients (except for the pepitas and cilantro, as they are your garnish). Blend for fifteen minutes or so, checking on it every so often. Taste the soup, and add any additional spices as you see fit. 

Serve, top with pepitas and cilantro. Enjoy!

I won't go into details about the making of the spaghetti squash spaghetti, AKA my Lasagna Cake, because I've already covered it in my previous post. I will say, however, that everyone loved it. I witnessed family members going for seconds, so that's like, a big deal. Right? The spaghetti went really well with wine, so that's also a bonus. And a bigger bonus is, no one felt bloated or guilty. I didn't add the cheese this time, so it was even healthier than the original Lasagna Cake I made. I'll throw in a picture here, but the camera just wasn't doing it justice. I hope it still looks as delicious as it tasted!!!

Spaghetti Squash Spaghetti AKA Lasagna Cake

Moving onward to ... drumroll please... the dessert! Yes, it's the last item on the menu, and it's still vegan, it's still healthy, and it's made of squash! Cue the Grain Free Pumpkin Bars! Yay!!!

I only changed one item from the original recipe because I swapped the honey for agave syrup like I always do. Also, I didn't follow the suggested "icing" for the cake and instead opted to make my own. I even went the extra mile of making my own almond butter, instead of buying a can of it at the store. 

Making your own almond butter is super easy as long as you have the right tools (a powerful blender like the Vitamix) and you learn the tricks. I had to do some research and when I tried making almond butter the first time, I succeeded in five minutes.

All you need are almonds, but HEAT THEM UP FIRST! This is so important, and I'm sorry for shouting that out at you, but I wanted to make sure you were paying attention. When the almonds are heated up, they release the oils quicker and easier (which means you won't have to add additional oil/liquid to get that buttery consistency!) Do not throw a bunch of almonds in your Vitamix two seconds after taking them out of the fridge (if that's where you keep them.) You can roast them for ten minutes, or do what I did, which is to toss them in the dehydrator for 20-30 minutes at 130°F. Once they're warmed up, toss the almonds into your Vitamix, start at Variable 1 and blend. In a minute or two, you'll move it up to Variable 3, and use your tamper to move the almonds around or push the crumbles down toward the blades. This process shouldn't take longer than 10 minutes, but I had a half a cup of almond butter made in five minutes. 

Once I had the almond butter made, I mixed it in with the pumpkin puree, agave, eggs, spices, baking soda and vanilla extract, and then baked the mixture. While it was baking, I set off to create my icing. If you've ever looked at my blog post about the Sugar Cookie Kale Chips, you'll find my icing inspiration right there! It's all vegan, and yummy yummy. 

The Kale Queen's Sugar Cookie Glaze

1/2 cup almond milk
1/2 cup cashews, soaked
5 medjool dates, soaked
1 TBS chia seeds
1 tsp vanilla extract

2 tsp coconut oil
1/2 tsp Himalayan pink sea salt.
1/2 TBS cinnamon

Blend all ingredients. Pour out on top of Grain Free Pumpkin Bars and serve.

The icing paired so well with the pumpkin bars. I'll probably use this icing recipe on muffins, pancakes, and any other healthy pastry I might make. It's sinfully sweet, minus the sin. Haha!

Oh yeah! I should take pictures of the pumpkin bars before it's all gobbled up!

So there you have it! A fully vegan, fully squashtastic meal that you don't have to feel guilty eating. I think it still surprises me that vegetables can be eaten as dessert and taste amazing. And yes, I categorize pumpkins (and tomatoes!) as vegetables, regardless of their scientific identity. It took me a long time before I considered healthy food anything other than cardboard bran. I hope that anyone who reads my blog realizes that it's possible to eat healthy AND yummy without sacrificing on either one. 

I hope you've enjoyed this menu, and again, I apologize for the photos. I will try to do better next time. Til then, maybe you can let me know your outcome with this menu! 

-Kale Queen

Autumnal Adventures! Lasagna Cake and other Creations

Happy fall everyone! It's officially here! The weather is getting cooler. Pumpkin Spice Lattes are back. (Hooray!) Magazines are displaying pictures of women in boots, and I've already seen three girls rocking out crochet hats. And of course, every store is filled with Halloween candy.

I'll admit, I used to not be a big fan of the fall. Even though my birthday is in October, and I love Halloween, and my boots, and PSLs, and jeans, I don't love the eerie looking squash and pumpkins that have started showing up at grocery stores and farmers' markets.

Well, I didn't love them. But my mission is to start! And I can already feel the sparks flying.

The main reason I didn't like these freakish gourds was because I had no idea what to do with them. Pumpkin pie can be made with canned pumpkin pie filling. But what's that goopy mess inside the pumpkin used for? And what about those seeds? And what about that hard shell of the spaghetti squash? Do you wash it? Do you cut it? Do you take a sledgehammer to the rind? (I contemplated that before I simply asked Roy to use his manly power to cut all of them open for me.)

Anyway, everyone has to start somewhere. I used to not know how to cook anything. (Well, unless you count adding water to the fill-line of the microwavable mac n cheese containers...) So I thought, surely I can figure out how to master the butternut squash, the pumpkin, the spaghetti squash, and all those other weird bumpy circular heavy things invading the grocery aisles.

I started with the spaghetti squash and have made two different meal varieties following recipes I found on Pinterest. The first was a Spaghetti Squash Au Gratin with Caramelized Onions I thought would be like mac n cheese. I'll say it's less like mac and more like cheesy hash. Nevertheless, the recipe ROCKED. I took it to a family dinner and it was quickly gobbled down, so it's a winner.

I had to take a bite... then realized I had to take a picture!

The second time I tried spaghetti squash, I followed most of the recipe from the aforementioned Au Gratin recipe, but instead of adding cheese and Greek Yogurt, I topped the spaghetti squash with some Bertolli spaghetti sauce and chopped up some leftover chicken sausages we had from a pool party the night before. Then I baked this "casserole" for half an hour at 375° and topped it with some mozzarella cheese. Roy loved it, and said he still couldn't come to terms he was eating a new vegetable that he liked. Roy's almost 15-year-old picky-eater teenaged son, David, gobbled down half of the entire tray that I made. He even came up with a name for it: Lasagna Cake. I'll take it. (Note: I didn't tell David he was eating spaghetti squash instead of actual pasta. Some things are better left unsaid...)

So here is the recipe for...

Lasagna Cake

1 medium spaghetti squash

1 medium onion, diced

2 TBSbutter

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 tsp salt (+/- to taste)

1/2 tsp black pepper

1 cup your favorite spaghetti sauce (homemade or store bought)

1/2 cup mozzarella cheese

1 TBS olive oil 

2 tsp oregano

2 tsp thyme

Preheat oven to 375°. 

Cut squash lengthwise. Scrape out the seeds. Salt the flesh of the squash and wipe some olive oil on it. Grab baking dish and add enough water to cover the bottom of the dish. Place spaghetti squash face-down. Bake for 45 minutes. 

While squash is baking, caramelize onions and garlic with butter. Add salt and black pepper. Remove from heat once onions are light brown. Remove from heat and set aside.

Once squash is done baking, remove from oven and let cool down a few minutes so you can handle it while scraping the flesh. Add spaghetti squash 'noodles' to an oven-safe casserole dish. Spread out caramelized onions and garlic on top. Add tomato sauce and cheese and mix up to spread sauce evenly. Top with oregano and thyme. 

Put Lasagna Cake back into the oven for 30 minutes. After that, remove from oven, let cool slightly, and enjoy!

Lasagna Cake!

As for those weird seeds you'll find in all sorts of squashes, you can do what I did with them. First, remove all the weird stringy madness from around the seeds. This may be a little bit time consuming, because the seeds are super slippery, but work through it to get all the seeds untangled, and then wash them. Pat them dry with a paper towel, and then put the seeds in a baking tin and spray with oil. I used truffle oil. We have one of those spritzy sprayers that provide a more uniformed coating of oil. (I use it when I make popcorn too!) You can find them anywhere, and I bought ours for 10 bucks at TJ Maxx. If you don't have a sprayer, just coat the seeds anyway you can in the oil of your choice, and then salt them before popping the baking tin in the oven for 15 minutes at 400°. If you're like me and you like really toasted brown seeds, leave them in for longer, but first shuffle the seeds around so they're not just toasting on one side. Once they're done, enjoy! I eat the seed whole, without taking off the shell. I don't think there are any problems with that, but you do as you wish. 

My goal is to go on Pinterest and find more recipes that are autumnal. One such recipe is the

Turkey, Wild Rice, Apple, and Cranberry Stuffed Pumpkins but I might skip out on the wild rice and just use turkey, apples and cranberries. Maybe I'll substitute spaghetti squash for the rice! I haven't yet decided but it's on my autumn food bucket list!

What autumn veggies have you used so far? Lemme know about it!

Til next time

-Kale Queen

Dear Skinny Bitches

Well hello again. I have been so crazy busy lately, I hope you all forgive me for my brief hiatus. I got engaged! So naturally, I'm reading other blogs, going on Pinterest, and discussing wedding plans with all my friends and family.

I have actually been working on another blog post which is almost done, but I had to put that aside because there was something extremely important on my mind and I absolutely have to get this out in writing. If you never read another blog post of mine, read this one before you write me off entirely.

The other day, I casually skimmed through my news feed on Facebook to get the latest scoop about the goings-on of my not-so-inner circle. A "friend" of mine (I will refrain from naming her, but not for the fear that she'll see this; I've since unfriended her) posted a status update that caught my attention. She wrote, and I quote: "If you really can't handle the first half of spin class without fans on, then you probably should reconsider working out altogether." Two of her charming friends responded to her status update. The first said: "People that use fans to work out should reconsider working out." The second friend, evidently a woman of few words wrote simply: "PREACH!"

I read it over and over, and came up with a dozen responses in my head of things I would have liked to say. I'll admit, most of the things I wanted to write were laden with profanity, but I willed myself to write, gently and eloquently so as to get my point across, "ouch. People have to start somewhere :-/"

Circa 2007, not yet at my heaviest

I'll be honest. I really thought that maybe since I had not written the expletive-ridden torrent I had intended to spill, some cosmic karma voodoo magicalness would swarm all over their pretty blonde heads and, oh I dunno, give them a reality check, or maybe some common decency, or a bit of heart. I waited patiently for the notification icon to pop up letting me know a new response had been added, but nothing came. After a few hours, I checked her page again, thinking maybe the notification popped up and I had missed it. I found the status entry, and instead of three comments underneath, found only two. She had deleted my comment...

 So here is the actual beginning of my long spiel. Buckle your seat-belts but don't go anywhere. This is where you're probably wondering why the hell I care what some "skinny bitch" said on her own Facebook wall. After all, she didn't go and blast it on some forum (as far as I know.) She also has every right to use her first amendment right to be as much of a bitch as she wants. She's not hurting anyone, technically. But oh my God, did it hurt like hell. I'll admit it.

2009. I was 22 years old

This all takes me back to when I was "Flabby Gabby." When I hated going to the gym and being around skinny girls who I swear gave me dirty looks. Was it my own imagination that the gorgeous, fit girls were judging me while I struggled on the treadmill? Maybe. It might have been in my head that they were secretly laughing at me or looking at how revolting my belly and thighs looked. Everywhere I looked, people were scoping out other people. Quick peeks, strange glances, all of which I imagined were for comparison. My legs are so much better than hers. Her butt looks amazing. OMG that girl's hips are so wide; glad I don't look like that. When I made fleeting eye contact with another person, I over-analyzed what they must have seen and thought about me: that I'm just a gross fat girl who should just give up. My so-called friend's status update validated every fear I ever had.

I used to always "cover" myself with purses, or in this case, a pillow to hide...

My ex-boyfriend's father once said I would always be a fat girl. I remember the first time a girl at school matter-of-factly referred to me as 'chubby'. And it was someone in my used-to-be-inner-circle who dubbed me Flabby Gabby. And you know what? That whole bullshit about using the negative comments as fuel to prove people wrong NEVER FUCKING WORKED. Oh, I'd think it all right, in my head, it was all, I'll show them! I'll lose this weight and be so hot they'll be sorry. But it never happened. I went home and scarfed my heart out on whatever was in the fridge. You say I needed better friends? You betcha.

Visiting my family in AZ in 2009

The first step on my path of transformation really did involve removing myself from the bad, negative, hurtful, detrimental people. The second step was surrounding myself with people who motivated me, encouraged me, told me I was beautiful no matter what, and loved me for me regardless of the size of my jeans.

2010. The most I ever weighed. I wore a size 10-11 at 5' tall and 140ish lbs

I needed some serious prodding to get back in the gym, and it only happened after I lost my first twenty pounds. Even then, I stayed for ten minutes. That included getting a paper cup of water and slowly ambling toward the "death machines."

I can't even imagine what would have happened if someone laughed at me about that, or if I overheard some girl snidely remarking "that girl who barely worked out for ten minutes should just reconsider working out altogether." I would have quit. I would have been defeated. Am I proud about that? No, not really, but I'm being blatantly honest. I would not have come back, because there'd be no way to get up to "her workout standards" overnight, and subjecting myself to that kind of bullying would be too difficult. I already endured enough bullying in grade school for being too short, having the wrong haircut, wearing cheap clothes, having crooked teeth and "four eyes." In those days, I had no choice but to go to school and be subjected to the brutality. As an adult though, it's a different battlefield, and I can choose whether or not I want to fight in it.

Down 40 lbs!

I would have walked away...

Hiking. Look at those guns!

I'm so grateful that I made it to my goal, and have successfully kept off the weight for two years now. My self confidence has never been higher, and I actually feel pretty. It's not just because I'm thinner. It's also because I worked so hard, didn't give up, and achieved something I never thought I could. I am so proud of myself! That's why when anyone tells me they'd like to lose weight or get healthier, I do anything I can to help them, motivate and encourage them, and answer all their questions. That's why I started this blog! I wanted it to be easier for you guys to find my favorite recipes, tips and exercises that helped me lose weight!

No witchcraft here. Just positive energy, motivation and hard work!

I hope what you take from this blog post and what you remember most is that I started out as Flabby Gabby who ate macaroni and cheese daily, hated exercise, and was constantly derailed from improving my life by the negativity around me. But I slowly made the changes to my diet, and I took those scary steps into the gym. I thrived because of the positivity around me and avoided people and situations that would hinder me. My ten minutes on the elliptical the first day turned into fifteen and then thirty. Now, I can ride that sucker for an hour like a boss. And I'm down forty pounds.


And you know what? I use the damn fans.

Snorkeling during my last vacation. #nofilter #nophotoshop #thatsmybody

Say NAY to Travel Weight



Roy and I had to travel for work again, and the last few times we traveled have definitely been horrendous for our bellies. It's so difficult to maintain healthy lifestyles when you don't have kale shakes for breakfast, and there's a surplus of cheap, free, delicious yet non-nutritious food at your disposal. It's silly how I used to say that if I had more time and money, it would be easier to lose weight. Silly, because when we travel for work and our corporate cards are being charged, and the conference rooms are stuffed with a wide variety of goodies, we tend to eat the crappy sugary snacks, and order fattening entrees and dessert. I will admit that it's difficult to order a salad and skip dessert when you're at a corporate dinner while watching your coworkers eating pasta and double chocolate fudge cake.



Play "Eye of the Tiger" while you look at this photo. Yeah!!!

This time however, I promised myself to work out in the hotel fitness center every day we were there, and to eat as healthy as I possibly could. I packed my cute gym outfits and sneakers, opting to make room for those items in my suitcase and skip packing my oh-so-cute boots that I only get to wear about five times a year (darn you Florida for infringing on my boot rights!)



"Sweat, baby, sweat, baby".... ok I'll stop...

I'm proud to say that while I could have possibly done better at the eating portion, I did work out each day I was there. There was an evening we went to Fogo de Chau, and I just couldn't bring myself to eat more salad when the price of the dinner was $46.50 a person. I did indulge a bit in some of the delicious Brazilian cheese puffs (Pao de Queijo) and ate far too much cheese (umm hello!! Grilled mozzarella? I think so!) But I'm not going to beat myself up about it because negative reinforcement and discouragement will not make me healthier and happier, ever. It's just as hard to not be down on myself as it is to say no to chocolate drizzled sin cake, but they're both equally as important to work on.



Yes, it's not some fancy shmancy $10 bag of tea from the health store, but it works. And it sure beats soda! AND it was complimentary!!!

So instead of poo-pooing my carb intake, I patted myself on the back for opting for an apple with peanut butter and green tea instead of the bags of chips and free chocolate muffins available to me when I wanted to nosh. And I politely asked my boss if we could skip on dessert when we had already consumed enough calories in the wine and beer we were sipping. Ok, maybe I wasn't so polite as I was demanding, but he's cool like that and he acquiesced (albeit, slightly begrudgingly.) 

Pretty decent snack! An apple, peanut butter and some yummy pomegranate green tea!

It's a work in progress to not obsess about food so much and instead, to find ways to make myself proud of my decisions and ultimately reach my goal. I want to get back to my super fit and super happy self, so these baby steps help me. And as I've said before, I try to encourage myself and set little goals that I know I can obtain. I may even surprise myself. This time, not only did I actually use the fitness room like I promised myself I would, I was on the elliptical far longer than I've ever been able to do before. 45 minutes! (I snapped this photo while cooling down).

The longest I've ever gone! Go me!

What are your tips for healthy lifestyle habits when you're traveling?

Til next time!

-Kale Queen