It's been 2 years since I've written this blog.  I guess I feel like I had nothing much to say.  You can get recipes online and tips everywhere.  For some reason today I felt to blog.  It's Thanksgiving week.  Time for turkey and all the sides.  A favorite of our holidays here at the the Stout home.  

I don't have any tips on recipes, well I do, but not in this post.  This post is short and simple.

Todays tip.... BE KIND.   Thats it.  Simple yet if everyone really did this what a different neighborhood we would have, what a different family we would have, what a different church we would have... What a different country we would have.  KINDNESS...I don't see much of it anymore, but today I CHOOSE TO BE KIND.  Thats it.  


TRISH 

Soup

Today's post is simple and true. Broth-based soup help curb hunger, get you lots of vitamins if you're using lots of vegetables. Make a big pot of vegetable soup no cream or anything just vegetables broth and lots of fresh herbs and spices and eat this before dinner or just for a snack. You get loads of nutrition and it will curb your hunger. 

Be aware that most boxed and canned broth has MSG in it you want to look for one that is organic to make sure it does not have MSG in it or better yet make your own broth

I get mine from Cosco in Nashville but you can try Kroger in the organic section.

Blessings, 

Trish 

Fall..light simple delicious

So this  week I have been eating a lot lighter. After our cruise last week and eating tons and tons of food, this week I felt the need to eat much lighter. Didn't really know what to have for supper so I surfed the web and found a recipe for butternut squash soup. I usually make this with sweet potatoes or cut up squash that I roast, but I'm kinda tired today and I have parent teacher conferences and a school fall festival tonight, so it had to be quick. In 30 minutes I went from nothing to a creamy healthy comforting soup

I had frozen cooked squash so this was a breeze. 

I sautéed one onion, one carrot, and 1/2 peeled apple  in 1 teaspoon of butter

 I added the cooked squash to the mixture. I added one container 2 cups of chicken stock. I cooked  this for 30 minutes with some salt and pepper. Then I took my emulsifier and blended it right in the pot.

Creamy healthy delicious soup without even adding any cream at all. This recipe is perfect for anyone with lactose issues. There is no milk in it yet it is still creamy. 

This is perfect for a chilly fall day. Plus you are getting so many vitamins with the squash and the onions and the carrots.

Tip:  You can use any kind of squash that you want but I find that butternut makes it most creamy.

Blessings, 

Trish 

Boston Part 3 (final post on Boston)

Well the trip has finally come to an end.  We had a fabulous time.  It was great to spend time with son #2!!  I know he had a great time as well.

A latte by the harbor before our flight.

isn't this gorgeous?  Leaving Boston.

flying into Washington DC for a quick flight change.

Look at this! Jonah snapped this from his seat... the Washington Monument!! 

We almost missed our connecting flight to Nashville because the Boston flight took off so late!  Lets just say they were waiting for us at the gate.  LOL

Thank God we made it back safely!!  We had an awesome time and hope to have more adventures soon.  Next one son #3 gets to come with us... Look out Elijahman.

Blessings,

Trish

Saturday morning hike

Today felt like the first morning of fall!  45 degrees, sunny and absolutely gorgeous! Scott and I had our coffee on the porch and then he talked me into a morning hike in our woods. I don't know why, but I never like to go into the woods.

So, I complied as he said it is good exercise.  So, we went.  We jogged a bit until we reached the trail.    Then we hiked the woods.  What a beautiful morning for a hike.  It felt good to do somthing different than my usual workouts!

Here was my view:

So today's tip is enjoy something different.  Enjoy the beautiful weather God has given us!!

Blessings, 

Trish

Part 2 Boston

So yesterdays post was the trip to Boston.  Thank God it went smoothly as I dislike flying and it was Jonah's (middle son)  first plane trip.

We landed safely in Boston's Logan Airport around 11:00 am and quickly got a taxi and  arrived at the Seaport Boston Hotel which was very nice.  It was in the seaport district so it looked more industrial around where we were, but the hotel was beautiful and the room very nice.

Once we got unpacked and settled and Scott took a power nap, we got a map and ventured out to see the sights.  Boston is totally a walking town.  Let's just we walked EVERYWHERE.  Since the hotel was not in the hub of things, just getting to downtown was about 2 miles.  So as far as exercise...I got that in easy.  We walked easy 6-10 miles a day... no joke.

Boston is so rich in American History, which was a real learning experience for me since I pretty much slept through my history classes in high school.  I know shame on me, but I just wasn't interested back then, but now so cool.  We picked up the freedom trail after we stopped at a little local seafood spot and had stuffed clams and lobster bisque... yum!!

We then hit the freedom trail
The freedom trail goes from the Boston  common to bunker hill and is approximately 3 miles long with many stops along the way. It was very cool being that the whole freedom Trail was marked in the sidewalk with red brick so you knew exactly which way to go. By the end of the trip Jonah and I completed the entire trail from the Boston Common to Bunkerhill as well as climbing the 294 steps up to the top of Bunker Hill. I wasn't going to wimp out on that one. I was raring to go to the top as a challenge not thinking of how claustrophobic it would be. So I put my head down and just started going up all 294 of those steps!

We also got to see the site of the Boston tea party and the USS constitution.

Very cool stuff. 

We also were at the site of the Boston massacre.

But my all-time very very favorite part of Boston was Boston's Little Italy. It had so many Italian restaurants,  pastry shops and just quaint brown stone apartments. I loved everything about it and it just brought me back to my roots.  We had two dinners here and stopped at two different pastry shops for Italian pastries.

That's Jonah with coconut gelato

Oh yeah...

Okay I guess you're tired of Italian food pictures. We also stopped and had some really great seafood including clam chowder and local fish. We had lobster mac & cheese which was also amazing

Fresh caught mahi mahi 

This was the best!!!! Lobster mac and cheese

We really had a great time of American history and eating our way and walking through Boston.

Blessings, 

Trish 

Boston!!

So every year Sweety gets to go on a conference to keep up his credentials and to learn all the cutting edge things going on in the dermatology world... I get to go with him and see different parts of the country (yay)

This year the conference was in Boston.. bean town ...home of the Boston Tea Party.. Freedom Trail...and yes seafood!!


A few things to note:  #1 I just had no desire to go to Boston.  I don't know why?  I just didn't.  It was not somewhere that I would want to travel to.  I lived in NE Pennsylvania for many years and NJ and was clearly in driving distance to it and never went... never.  So, when I found out the conference was in Boston, I was less than enthusiastic.

#2 The next reason was the dreaded airplane.  I don't fear heights or anything, I just don't like the whole flying thing.  So this made me nervous right away.

#3 We decided to take the middle child aka Jonahman with us to this conference.  If you remember 2 years ago we took the oldest son aka Micahman with us to Seattle.  (see older post from July 2012)

We like to take one child so they get some much needed time away from the siblings...

Boston was the perfect place for Jonah because he LOVES American history!!!

So I may do this in 2 posts... or 3  to not overwhelm everyone with too much Stout info.

Here's the take off:

A bit nervous before the flight... at 545am!!!

Notice I walked and did not take the treadmill thingy.  It's the little things that add up.

Watching a movie on the plane.

All in all thank God it was a good flight!!
More on Boston in the next post!!