Holidaying.

My pictures are piling up and it is getting out of control. But I cannot neglect to show you something I received recently.

My friends know me so well!!!

I obviously couldn't wait to open this book and made a pumpkin black bean soup inspired by a recipe from the book.

This is all I did - I blended a can of black beans and two chopped tomatoes, sautéed this mixture with some olive oil, garlic, and cumin seeds, added a can of pumpkin purée, and a few cups of vegetable broth, and cooked all of this in a large pot. I added some salt and pepper at the end, along with some pumpkin seeds for garnish.

What else have I been up to? Well, I discovered purple sweet potatoes and I think they are beautiful.

Especially when topped with butter and jalapeños.

I also like making fancy weekend brunches.

This was something like an open-faced taco with a couple of sunny side up eggs, spinach/broccoli/bell peppers, and lots of cheese. And of course topped with some salsa. It was messy to eat but so worth the mess.

Last week's workout recap:

Sunday: Zumba
Monday: Step
Tuesday: Body Pump
Wednesday: Run
Thursday: Rest day
Friday: Run
Saturday: Kickboxing

Quite the productive workout week, I'd say! And so full of cardio. I like to stay active even during holidays as it helps to keep the momentum into the new year. What are your thoughts? Do you wait until the new year to start again or do you like to be one of the few in the gym during the holidays?

Squash lady.

Hi.

I'd like to take a moment and tell you about my newest food obsession. It's a bit unexpected, and might I say, a bit common; but nonetheless... a lot delicious.

FETA!!!

I don't know why, but of all cheeses I was never really that drawn to feta. I usually head straight for the Swiss, mozzarella, or cheddar. But last week, I had this great plan to make stuffed acorn squash and include some feta in the mix. I then decided to skip the fanciness and just combine the roasted squash with some wild rice and feta cheese.

If it is any indication about how awesome this dish was... I made enough for five days, and finished it in three. Success?

Since it is still winter squash season, I highly recommend giving this recipe a spin. Plus, winter squash is just awesome. (Hence the title of this post. My mom called me the squash lady once. I thought it was pretty funny).

This is what you do: cut the acorn squash in half, drizzle some olive oil into the fleshy side, and place each half face down on a baking sheet. Roast in the oven for 20 minutes at 400 degrees.

While the squash is roasting, cook the wild rice. When the squash is ready, let cool, and then peel and chop into cubes. Add this to the rice, along with crumbled feta, and season with salt and oregano. You can also add some crushed red pepper for good measure :).

My favorite part of this is that when I re-heated it in the microwave, the feta bubbled. So good.

Let's re-cap last week's workouts, shall we?

Sunday: Zumba
Monday: Step + abs
Tuesday: Body pump
Wednesday: Run (2 miles)
Thursday: Rest
Friday: Active rest day (I say active because I didn't do a planned workout, but I did walk about 2 miles!)
Saturday: 25 minutes elliptical, 1 mile sprint, weights, + walk ~4 miles (it was a tiring day, to say the least).