SPARK YOUR ENGINES!

by karen | Jul 21, 2014 | Food

Hands down, my favorite product on the market is Spark. I start my day with it (I find my athletes like me better when I have my spark in the morning). If I need to get hype for a WOD (sometimes I think Coach Winchester, tries to kill us…in a good way). If I need to focus on “busy work”. The answer is spark…as it should be; just look at the comparison below…

I personally am a fan of grape and fruit punch flavors, but one of my athletes like mandarin orange with her topo chico in the afternoon…if you mix it with club soda spark, creates that carbonated drink fizz that we find ever so addicting. You also can…

Cut grapes in 1/2 and dip them in AdvoCare’s SPARK…sweet cravings are gone without the guilt!

And…

Try This…

To Go In One Of These

I WILL figure out how to make this Paleo Friendly…

PS…Spark is part of BASECAMP 🙂

Roasted Pumpkin and Coconut Soup with Thai Flavours

by karen | Jul 21, 2014 | Food

INGREDIENTS

(Serves 4)

4-6 cups of peeled pumpkin or squash (cubed)

1 tablespoon olive oil or melted coconut oil

Salt and pepper to taste

A few branches of thyme

2 tablespoons coconut or olive oil

1 large onion, thinly sliced

2-3 plump cloves of garlic, minced

1-2 fresh green chilis, finely chopped

4 inch piece of lemongrass, finely chopped

A small handful of Thai basil (or normal basil), finely chopped

3-4 lime leaves

This is the perfect place for one of those small boxes of fresh herbs from the supermarket entitled ‘Thai Flavours’ or some such. If you can’t find that I’ve made this with a couple of tablespoons of Thai green curry paste in place of the lemongrass, basil and lime leaves.

1 can light coconut milk

2-3 cups of good chicken stock (I use my own bone broth)

Chopped coriander (cilantro) and spring onions (scallions) to garnish.

Method

Roasted Pumpkin

Place the pumpkin cubes on a baking sheet, sprinkle with the olive oil or melted coconut oil and rub it into the pumpkin cubes with your hands until everything is well anointed. Season with sea salt (I use Maldon) and freshly ground pepper to taste and add a few branches of thyme.

Bake in the oven at 200 degrees C (approx 400 degrees F) until the pumpkin is soft and golden brown round the edges.

(You don’t have to roast your pumpkin, but it really does bring out the flavour).

While your pumpkin is roasting, start to caramelize your onions.

Heat the oil in a large soup pot, add the onions, garlic, chili, lemongrass, basil and whole lime leaves and cook gently until the onions are a soft and have turned rich golden brown, being careful not to burn them.

When the onions are done, add the roasted pumpkin cubes (or raw pumpkin if you prefer), the coconut milk and 2 cups of bone broth and bring everything to a simmer. Cook for around five minutes, or until the pumpkin is soft if using raw pumpkin, and then fish out the whole lime leaves.

Using an immersion blender or liquidiser, blend the soup until it is thick and creamy.  Add more broth as necessary depending on the texture you like your finished soup to be.

Serve piping hot, garnished with chopped onions and coriander (cilantro). Obviously garnishes are optional, but the crisp green crunchiness really complements the earth, creamy soup.

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