My REAL Journey

Wikipedia defines temptation as: "...A temptation is an act that looks appealing to an individual. It is usually used to describe acts with negative connotations and as such, tends to lead a person to regret such actions."

Everyone has that one (or two or three) food that seems to call your name from the kitchen cupboard; tempting you with its lovely aroma or crunchy texture. Maybe it’s fried foods, salty foods, desserts, or breads. For me, it’s chocolate! If there is chocolate in my house I will eventually eat it. That’s why I simply can’t have tempting foods in my house! I’ve tried it many times and I always end up eating things I wish I hadn’t and then I have the whole “guilt” syndrome kick in and I hate that feeling.  My hubby likes to have a sweet treat or ice cream nearly every night (by the way, he feels ice cream should be an official food groupJ). What makes it even worse is he eats that junk and never gains a pound. I so much as look at ice cream and I may as well just apply it straight to my butt and skip the digestive process.

We don’t keep a lot of food stocked at the lake house so I bring only what we’ll need for the time we’re here. I consciously bring lots of fruits and veggies to snack on. But I also like to bring something we can snack on as we watch football games all weekend so I bring black beans, our homemade salsa and tortilla chips. Tortilla chips meet my rule about 5 ingredients or less, but they’re still chips so I don’t go too crazy on them. Funny how tortilla chips can be made with so few ingredients and yet a loaf of store bought bread has 30-40 ingredients it!  I also brought ingredients for a new soup I made for lunch and IT WAS DELICIOUS!  I kept out a bowl for myself before adding the crab meat and it tasted great. Not that I don’t like crab meat because actually I love it, but I’ve chosen to continue to keep meat out of my diet as much as possible. Next time I make this soup I’m going to add a little potato in place of the crab and it will be just as good!  I highly recommend giving it a try~ AND it goes together quickly. Proof of that is Dwight and I put it all together during halftime of the Husker game! J

Squash and Crap Soup

6 Tbsp butter

1 carrot, grated

1 large onion, minced

1 garlic clove, minced

½ tsp red pepper flakes

3 medium yellow squash, grated (about 6 cups)

4 cups chicken broth

1 pound crabmeat, small pieces

½ cup all purpose flour

2 cups whole milk (I used 1 cup milk and 1 cup almond milk)

2 Tbsp snipped chives, optional

1.        Melt butter in large saucepan over medium heat. Add carrot, onion and garlic – cook until tender, about 7-8 minutes. Add pepper flakes and squash and cook until tender, about 8-10 minutes.

2.      Add chicken broth and mix well. Bring to a simmer. Add crabmeat and cook over low heat until thoroughly heated.

3.      Whisk together flour and a little of the milk to make a paste. Add remaining milk and mix well. Add to soup.

4.      Cook, stirring until soup thickens, about 10 minutes. Do not boil. Garnish with chives and serve.

Don’t forget ~ Eat Breakfast Every Day This Week! J

*Thought for the day*

Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it."
William Arthur Ward