A Great Recipe

I am starting a course to become a Holistic Health Counselor in a few weeks, and have been studying the materials that were sent to students to review before class. Included in these materials was a DVD of whole food recipes. There are recipes for root vegetables, greens, sweet veggies, squashes, and all sorts of healthy things. I decided to make a butternut squash soup with ginger tonight, despite the fact that I have never had butternut squash, have never made a soup, and don't really like ginger (I'm so daring...).

The recipe was simple:

Medium Butternut Squash
1/2 cup chopped onions
1 tbsp olive oil
3 tsp grated ginger
Spices to flavor
4 cups water (approximate)

First cut the squash into similar sized pieces (after peeling it). Then put the olive oil in a large pot and heat on a high flame. Toss in the onions and wait a minute or so. Then put in the squash. Add enough water to cover the squash. Bring the water to a boil, then turn down to a low flame. Simmer for 30 minutes. You can grate the ginger into the soup when it is cooking, or add it right before you mash the squash (for a stronger ginger flavor). I added 1/3 cup balsamic vinegar, and 2 tsp of cinnamon for flavor, but the recipe did not call for it. After the 30 minutes, all you need to do is mash the squash (or mix it with a hand held mixer or use a strong wisk) and you have butternut squash soup. I was suprised at how easy it was, and how delicious it tasted. More importantly, I cooked something healthy for myself and my family...what a great feeling!

I cant't wait to learn more, and perhaps begin to cook more often from scratch, so I have more energy to do all the other things I need to do...and maybe lose some weight, meet some wonderful people, and teach my son (who will be a year old in 5 weeks!) good eating habits from the start.

For information on the nutrition program that I'll be attending in November (one weekend a month in NYC until June 2006), go to www.integrativenutrion.com. If you sign up as a friend of mine, we can both save an extra $500 on tuition...