Creamy Butternut Squash Soup with Nutmeg

This is the most simple yet mind-blowingly tastiest winter soup you could possibly brew up. Butternut squash is pleasantly ripe this time of year. Paired with the right ingredients, in minutes you'll have an ambrosial bowl of rich & creamy soup!

Start with one or two Butternut squash. Wash, knife off their hard outer peels, and chop into large pieces. Dump into a pot, fill with water, and boil until soft! Easy peasy!

To obtain that rich filling taste, you have to have chicken stock/broth as your soup base! For creaminess, heavy cream is the best way to go. Perhaps milk or half-n-half willsuffice as well.

Next, grab a yellow onion and dice.

Then saute the onion in a bit of olive oil until glassy and soft. Combine with the cooked squash in a blender.

Add some chicken stock/broth, but not too much. Blend and continue to pour until you've reached the desired consistency. Keep in mind you'll be adding heavy cream, so the consistency can be rather thick.

Nearly finished. Pour the puree back into the pot and turn up the heat. Season with salt and pepper.

Next, stir in enough heavy cream to reach the desired consistency of your soup. Feel free to taste at this point. I was so impressed!

Continue stirring and add a few dashes of nutmeg.

You may place a dabble of sour cream for taste, or sprinkle with dried parsley leaves, or both. 

All finished! Slurp it down with a side of crackers! It's dreamily good.

Enjoy~!

Breaking a Cleanse

Good morning! Do you feel extremely clean and light?

I am an adult female. In merely five days of this cleansing detox, 8 pounds lost.
This is mostly water weight, but all the toxins are flushed out from the holidays!

For those continuing on to a whole week of cleansing, just follow what you've been eating all the days before! If you combine good exercise with this cleanse, expect a much more drastic loss from Day 1 to Day 5. Men can expect to lose a bit more!

Break a cleanse gently. If you stuff yourself silly the first day, I guarantee you will gain back half of what you fought so gallantly to lose.

I chose to have a glass of fruit juice, a cereal bar, and a serving of Greek yogurt for breakfast.

For lunch: just a small serving of rice with vegetables.

Dinner: a couple tacos -- incorporated some meat by the end of the day! 

Hope you really enjoy your cleanse!

Crash Cleanse: Day 5

They're so enticing, the aromas and deep-fried temptations in our lives. But this is just the last day left and you'll be so thrilled with the scale in the bathroom!

For breakfast: dried apricots! The chewy crunchy texture helps mix up the daily morning meal on a detox such as this one.

For lunch: the water-based wintermelon soup and a pear.

For dinner: the BEST dressing other than soy sauce you can drizzle over a salad without worrying about fats or roaming out of the detox range is salsa! Delicious and kicking salsa was a great way to satisfy my hungry tummy.

5/5th done. Keep up the lemon water! All finished.

Crash Cleanse: Day 4

Morning -- notice how light and "clean" you're feeling today?

Definitely not bogged down or sluggish, that's certain.

For breakfast: two ripened pears (Bosc) and a box of raisins. After lemon water, you're not as hungry for the upcoming meal!

For lunch: no surprise, but a small bowl of the very last of the vegetable soup.

For dinner: a small plate of broccoli sauteed with fresh garlic. Also, a bowl of wintermelon soup. Click here for more information about this vegetable, which is easily found at the Asian supermarket. Slice into pieces and boil in water until soft, and season with a bit of salt. Usually chicken broth or a pork bone is used with the water for proper flavor, but in this case, only water!

This is the kind of soup that is more ideal for this cleanse. A more watery, brothy, liquid-heavy soup that won't clog us up!

Very light and delicious. 4/5th done!

Crash Cleanse: Day 3

Day three is particularly hard, right? We'll get through it!

You should notice by now a difference on the scale!

For breakfast after lemon water: a bowl of grapes! Unlimited red juicy grapes!

For lunch: still leftover vegetable soup. A big pot was made for this week. I added a can of roasted garlic tomatoes for added flavor and juice.

For dinner: a giant heaping of garlic green beans -- so good. I also devoured an apple sprinkled with cinnamon sugar again afterwards.

3/5th done! Already halfway. Be sure to weigh yourself tomorrow morning for a grand result.

Crash Cleanse: Day 2

Good morning! Second day!

For breakfast, after lemon water, I enjoyed a hefty bowl of fresh cantaloupe topped with black pepper. It's a favorite combination my grandpa used to enjoy, and now I'm carrying on his tradition. It's a good taste.

For lunch: a bright serving of orange bites. Now, maybe one can see how minimally intense the cleanse is. No fooling around on this one. It'll test your self-control, too. I also had a small bowl of leftover vegetable soup from Day 1.

For dinner: side salad made up of lettuce, tomatoes, roasted red peppers, and cucumbers. No dressing :(
Also, spaghetti squash is literally the best substitute to pasta anywhere! Combined with tomato sauce, it's extremely delicious! A few Kalamata olives finishes off Day 2 nicely.

2/5th finished~!

Five-Day Crash Cleanse: Day 1

Need a refreshing restart after a particularly fattening holiday or food binge?

This one is definitely not that easy, but since it's only 5 days of light eating/cleansing, results are fantastic at the end of the detox. It's not a diet, but rather a hardcore flushing of build up from not-so-good foods.

You feel slow and sluggish, irregular and with an expanded stomach. Jeans are a little too tight. Love handles just starting to appear. Not to fear! Understand there will be some hunger pangs, but if you have good self-control, this will be easy and fly by quickly. And you'll feel better, look greater, and you'll start yourself anew diet-wise.

Your week will consist of these: lemon water, fruits, vegetables, soup.

Absolutely nothing else! This is a cleanse, not a diet.

Today's breakfast can consist of fruit, eat as much as you'd like! Except for bananas -- they are the most caloric fruit!

Throughout the short five days, drink a quart of lemon water (either half of a freshly squeezed lemon or lemon juice mixed with water) three times a day, preferably before every meal so you don't feel as hungry. This is also the main action for flushing yourself clean.

For lunch, I enjoyed a juicy Fiji apple sprinkled with cinnamon sugar on every savory bite!

For dinner, a simple water-based soup of simmered cabbage, carrots, and celery. Minimal salt. I seasoned with pepper, dried parsley, and garlic powder.

As a snack for later into the night, two "Cuties" or small oranges.

Along with replenishing yourself with those quarts of lemon water, you're off to a really great start. The first day is always the hardest -- we're actually shrinking our stomachs a bit.

1/5th over! ;)