Hi all, one of my favorite hunger management tools is soup. I just made butternut squash curry soup this morning. I count this at about 25 calories/cup since butternut squash has about 60 calories/cup, onions are about 40 calories/cup, and I'm adding about 3 cups of stock to every two cups of vegetables.

1 onion
2-3 cloves garlic
Curry powder to taste
Other spices if you like (I used tumeric, cumin, powdered ginger, and a pinch of cayenne)
1 large or 2 small butternut squash
4-6 cups of vegetable or chicken stock

1. Cut the squash in half lengthwise and remove seeds
2. Roast on a cookie sheet in a 375 degree oven until really soft. When it's cooked, use a spoon to scoop the baked squash out of its skin.
3. While the squash is baking, roughly chop the onions and the garlic
4. In a large non-stick soup pot, saute the onions and garlic until translucent, adding spices.
5. Add the skinless baked squash and vegetable stock to the pot.
6. Puree with an immersion blender, adding more stock if desired to thin out the soup.
7. Bring to a gentle boil.

You can also make it with different spices. Sometimes I make a Mexican-inspired version by adding some chipotles, cumin, and Mexican oregano to the onions instead of curry spices. For Italian, use crushed red pepper, thyme, basil, and oregano.

You can also use other baking squashes or carrots as the main vegetable. You can also saute celery or red pepper with the onions and garlic.

This soup freezes great. I make a triple-batch today and froze most of it.

Made
bunny buns for Easter. Chicken over salad for lunch today with sweet mini bell peppers and ginger sesame garlic salad dressing.

Thank you.

I don't know what happened that the pictures got so big. They didn't look like that when I first posted them. Odd lol, sorry.

I know this is more of a winter recipe, but it's still pretty yummy. Sometimes I have to add a dash of milk to the cauliflower to make them a bit creamier, but be careful not to add too much or they will be too watery.

Skinny Shepard's Pie

1 head cauliflower, cut into florets
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cloves garlic, mashed
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon reduced-fat cream cheese
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 pound ground turkey
1 1/2 cups hot water
1/2 cup whole wheat elbow macaroni
1/2 cup frozen peas
1 (1.25 ounce) envelope dry onion soup mix
1/2 teaspoon paprika

1.Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).
2.Place a steamer insert into a saucepan and fill with water to just below the bottom of the steamer. Bring water to a boil. Add cauliflower; cover and steam until tender, 10 to 12 minutes.
3.Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat; cook and stir garlic until softened, about 2 minutes.
4.Blend cauliflower, garlic, Parmesan cheese, cream cheese, salt, and pepper in a blender until smooth.
5.Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook and stir ground turkey in the hot skillet until browned and crumbly, 5 to 7 minutes; drain and discard grease. Stir water, macaroni, peas, and soup mix into turkey; simmer until pasta is tender yet firm to the bite, 5 to 10 minutes.
6.Pour pasta mixture into a 9x13-inch baking dish. Spread cauliflower mixture over pasta mixture. Sprinkle paprika over the top.
7.Bake in the preheated oven until lightly browned, about 20 minutes.

Serves 4

Zucchini and Shrimp Stir-Fry RecipeServes 2-3 | Prep Time: 15 Minutes | Cook Time: 5 Minutes

Ingredients:1 1/2 tablespoons oil
8 oz shelled and deveined shrimp or chicken breast (cut into pieces)
1 zucchini, about 8 oz, cut into rounds and then quarters
3-4 button mushrooms, cut into pieces
3-4 baby carrots, sliced
5-6 slices peeled ginger
Brown Sauce:
1 tablespoon oyster sauce
5 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
Pinch of salt, or to taste


Method:Mix all the ingredients in the Brown Sauce, stir well and set aside.
Heat up your pan/skillet/wok and add the oil. When the oil is heated, add the ginger and stir-fry until aromatic, follow by the shrimp. Stir-fry the shrimp until the surface turns opaque, then add in the zucchini, carrots, and mushrooms.
Toss and stir-fry for about 30 seconds.
Add the Brown Sauce (stir right before using), stir to combine well with the ingredients. Once the sauce thickens, dish out and serve immediately with steamed rice.
Cook’s Note:If you don’t have Sesame Oil, it’s OK to skip. Oyster Sauce is a must when it comes to Chinese or Asian stir-fry.


The sauce is 19 calories a serving then I weigh everything else. I usually double the sauce so it would be 38 calories. We put all sorts of combinations with the sauce.

I'm in winter so I will definitely try your Shepard pie Noodle.

This is not a recipe but a glimpse into my current lifestyle.... Note the absence of exercise. Which I will get back into when it gets a little warmer. Stripping off my clothes when it is so cold is not conducive to gyming in my mind!

Rather than three main meals, I eat several times through out the day because I pack various snacks in my lunch box. It usually contains:

Two slices of 100% rye bread or coconut loaf or low GI full grain bread (though the latter triggers gluten reactions so I don't eat it as often)
30 grams Goats cheese or cream honey or low fat cream cheese or almond butter to go with the bread (watch out for high fat and high sugar content)

200 grams low fat or normal fruit yoghurt (both are high in sugar content, so watch out for that)
80 grams fruit and nuts mix, that I mix myself. There are cranberries, currents, raisins, goji berries, almonds, Brazil nuts, macadamia nuts, walnuts and sometimes peanuts, sunflower, poppy and a couple of other seeds in the mix. (Watch out for high fat and high sugar content)

Two fruits of the season (Watch out for high sugar)

I snack throughout the day and maintain high energy, and decided on what I will eat in the evening depending on how sedentary I have been and whether I ate all of the snacks or not.

I also drink a lot of green teas flavoured it's mint, lemon, jasmine, honey or ginger throughout the day to keep me hydrated. Freezing cold water in winter does not cut it for me.

Since it is winter, I make either veggie or meet soups with lentils, barley or beans at least three times a week on the evening. Otherwise I eat my ostrich. Venison or lamb burgers or steaks and the occasional KFC or chicken schnitzels for proteins. Oh and hake or salmon or tuna as other very good substitutes.

aaliceinw wrote: »

Since it is winter, I make either veggie or meet soups with lentils, barley or beans at least three times a week on the evening.

My family LOVES barley/lentil soups.