Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Butternut yam soup

I'm still on a soup kick...this one's my recipe.

Ingredients

1 large butternut squash
1 yam
1/2 medium onion
2 redskin potatoes
1 Tb butter or earth balance
salt
pepper
cumin
enough veggie broth to cover veggies

Peel and cube squash and yam, and add to pan with butter.  Chop onion and potato, and add to the pan.  When veggies are mostly cooked, add enough broth to cover them and season to taste.  Simmer on low heat til all chopped veggies are soft, and puree (I use a Bamix, but a blender or food processor will work as well).

It's easy...I promise!  Also cheap.

2013

I wish I could say something like "new year, new life" or even "new year, new haircut" or something equally pivotal.  I can't though.  2012 turned into 2013 quite uneventfully, amongst friends and family (with Levi asleep in the other room).  I doubt he's going to hold letting him sleep through his first New Year against us though.

Levi, though...he's getting so big!  Sunday marked 14 weeks, which he celebrated by sleeping in and eating/napping the rest of the day.  I think we're in the midst of yet another growth spurt.  He's outgrown almost all of his 0-3 month clothing (though I admit, I still have a few articles in rotation because I like them!).  He's been holding up his head reliably since November, and is terribly frustrated that he can't sit up yet. And he babbles, coos, and as of late, shrieks and giggles.  We have a great video of him laughing, but I'm technologically challenged and don't know how to post it to the blog.

I'm still running a few times a week, though it's (surprisingly) been tougher to make it to the gym with Chris between jobs.  It has yet to get me back in my smaller pairs of prepregnancy jeans, but I'm seeing small and gradual improvements.  I'm running three miles about four times a week, and doing planks about five, and am hoping to start doing yoga and crunches more regularly once both Chris and I are back to work and life settles into a schedule.  Overall I'm pretty happy with my postpartum body, though there's definitely room for improvement as I have more time and more outdoor activity-friendly weather.

I'll be starting back to work on the 18th after a quick trip to Kansas City to introduce Levi to his great grandparents and visit my family, and we have friends from Chicago in town this weekend.  It's going to be February before we know it!