My Weight Loss Journey – Week 34

I finally tried out a new recipe this week (in addition to the one I made for the Fantastic Bake Along), but before I get to the recipe I have an update and a before and after picture. My friends on my Facebook page have been bugging me for a while for a before and after photo, but I live alone and I can’t get the right angle for a full body picture, so all I have is a facial side by side comparison. Still, I think you will agree that the change is noticeable..

Now for the update. Progress was slow this week, but I lost a further .3 lbs, and any loss is a win!

On Tuesday night last week, roasted an acorn squash in the oven. I cut it in half, drizzled 1 tsp of sesame oil, and 2 tsp of honey over the two halves, then roasted them in the oven. On Wednesday, at lunchtime, I was looking for something to eat and decided to use one of the halves to make a small pot of soup.

I’ve never made squash soup of any kind, so I used this recipe from allrecipes.com as a guide. Since I made a smaller portion, and changed the recipe a bit, here is my recipe.

Acorn Squash Soup

1/2 acorn squash, previously roasted with
1 tsp honey
1/2 tsp sesame oil

olive oil cooking spray
1 red onion, chopped
1 carrot
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 cup chicken broth
salt and pepper to taste

If your acorn squash wasn’t roasted previously, use half of an acorn squash, with the seeds scooped out. Drizzle 1/2 tsp sesame oil (or some other oil), and 1 tsp of honey over, and roast it in the oven at 350 Farenheit until cooked. Scoop out the flesh, mash it up and set it aside.

Spray the bottom of a stock pot with the cooking spray, or use 1/2 to 1 tbsp olive oil. Heat the pan then add the onion, carrot and garlic, cook the vegetables until they soften.

Add the chicken broth, squash, salt and pepper. Bring to a simmer, and cook for 20 minutes. (Those black bits you see are because my cooking spray turned dark on the bottom of the pot, and came loose when I added the broth, but happily it did not affect the taste once it was blended in in the next step.)

Use an immersion blender to blend all of the ingredients until the soup is smooth. If you don’t have an immersion blender, you can do this in batches in a regular blender. Be careful either way that you don’t burn yourself while doing this step!

Once the soup is all blended serve! I served mine with a grilled Havarti cheese sandwich on flat bread. What is more perfect on a fall day then a hot bowl of squash soup with a grilled cheese sandwich?

Just a note that I did not omit the cinnamon and nutmeg from the original recipe for any particular reason other than I didn’t have any nutmeg, and I just decided that I would skip the cinnamon , since I was skipping the nutmeg. I’m happy to say the soup was still very tasty. So much so that I added another acorn squash to me shopping list so this will probably be back on the menu sometime this week.