Soup's OK - but it's no main course...

I like soup. Ok, I kinda like soup. I just never want it for dinner, you know? It just doesn't seem satisfying at all, almost a solid food's garnish. Admittedly I've never actually made my own soup, until today. It was actually really good! Heavy on the garlic, so I''ll tone that down next time. I love posting recipes on my site for you, but it's really for myself too. I've made so many dishes in the past that were simple, healthy and really good... all to be forgotten. Selfish? Not entirely! I get many of my recipes online and try to tweak them for my own liking, or to cut out ingredients I either don't have, or think is excessive. So if any look familiar that's because they're all out there :)

Take this Butternut Squash & Asian Pear Soup Recipe - heavy cream? Not necessary when you have the squash. I used almond milk instead, but I'm convinced water would have been fine. The curry addition is a good idea too.

Check out the recipe here - feel free to use as a based and adding your own flavour! Just don't eat is your main dish.

Recipe: Pulled Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Happy new year all! I'm making an effort to post as frequently as possible this year, and check back for some guest posts as well.

This recipe was created by suggestion from a friend for creating caramelized onions in the slow cooker. I love caramelized onions, but somehow I didn't think the entire wrap filling in onion would be as appetizing. It’s a really simple recipe, and the majority of your time will be spent filling up the slow cooker. Aside from the butter, this recipe is really clean and any spices for the pulled chicken can be substituted, as any of the filling ingredients. Try not to do what I do every time I assemble a wrap: stuff as much filling as I can only to have the entire thing fall apart on first bite. Less is more people! Especially with the delicate lettuce leaves. Needless to say I ate these alone, face covered, what a mess. Enjoy!

See this recipe here.

Half-Marathon Training - September Complete!

Well, I haven't posted in quite a while so I wanted to post a quick update. August was a great vacation month of travel, food and wine. I even did my first portage trip at Algonquin National Park here in Ontario. Great times!

I came back from a pretty lax August, to a very intense September. We've had big changes at work that always seems to stress everybody out (even though we're fairly protected, and heavily unionized). I still have a job - booya! I started my training for the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon in the first week of September. I didn't realize how intense it was until I was a week or so into it. I have had very little time to post, so I'm trying to make an effort today to do so.

FOOD:

For the training I started eating 6 small meals a day. Running almost every day really prevents me from having the giant meals I enjoyed in August. It's a weird transition; it almost feels like too much food but it's in such small quantities that it isn't. Constantly eating fools my stomach into thinking it's full. I like this alot, and so does my stomach when I head out for the 5am runs in the morning. It does require quite a bit of meal prep because 4 of the meals are while I'm at work.

TRAINING:

I'll just put my September calendar below. The workouts I'm doing are a stark contrast from my last routine. I'm focusing on the running, and thus I'm just trying to maintain muscle, and keep strong the ones I need to run properly. I'm still very sore  - especially after the long run Sundays. I'm used to running 5-10kms, so it's quite an adjustment. You might laugh at the calendar - but this is something I need to make sure I actually do it. Now do you see to correlation to making the log books? Comments always appreciated!

Hilarious sprints-day GPS map (below)

Enjoy some August photos below - and guess what I made 56 bottles of? So good!

Orlando:

Algonquin & Cottage Weekend:

Wine Making: