Change…
As my one of my favourite musicians, Tristan Prettyman says “you brace yourself for the moment, when it’s all going to flip, we couldn’t stop if we tried…”
I have been getting a few messages asking where I have been these past few months. I bit the bullet hard at the start, with three wonderful challenges: The Oh She Glows 30 Day Challenge, the My New Roots 21 Day Challenge, and the Minimalist Baker 21 Day Challenge. I really love diving into new blogs and trying out recipes I’ve page marked. I recorded over 120 recipes in the first few months! I loved all the enthusiasm from the blog and Instagram community and was even more excited to see you follow along.
Then things took a crazy turn. I experienced many changes, some positive, some negative, and some bittersweet. In the following three months I dealt with a personal ending, a job ending and a school ending. I had to take a break from all of this change to refocus my energies.
But last week something changed. I got inspiration from some of my favourite podcasts: One Part Podcast, The Jess Lively Show, and particularly: The Smart Passive Income. Pat Flynn had on author Hal Elrod, who talked about the Miracle Morning Routine. He suggests that you should wake up for yourself, not for an alarm, to feed the dog or to get the kids ready for school. The first part of the day should be a set up for the rest of it. He encourages a morning of meditation, affirmations, visualization, exercise, journaling and reading. Eager to get my life back on track, I started incorporating the routine. I had been going to the gym at 5:30 each morning while working on my masters, which really helped. I was shocked at how well this worked, especially to keep me focused and give myself the positivity I needed. I invested in the Headspace app, and the five minute journal to get me extra motivated.
A week later, I am writing a blog post! It feels great. Although still not myself, I know I will get there. I also have a great challenge to share with you, something I have been percolating on since earlier in the summer. A Local Foodie Challenge!
I am teaming up with my dear friend Kari of My Natural Balance to help me in this challenge. We each will dedicate each Monday for the next 8 weeks to eating locally. Be sure to follow My Natural Balance on Instagram: @mnb_yvr as they will be posting recipes as well!
For the Local Foodie Challenge, I will be posting once every week, on Mondays, a plant-based meal that is made from a local blog or cookbook (I’ve limited it to British Columbia), or inspired by a restaurant I’ve been to in Victoria. The ingredients will also be purchased locally whenever possible.
So to kick it off, I am sharing this weeks recipe, found in White Water Cooks with Passion; Honey Miso Roasted Squash and Soba Noodle Soup. I have never been to this restaurant but heard amazing things. I was perusing my Aunt’s cookbook (she has all three!) and found this recipe. It looked too good not to try. Squash is becoming abundant this time of year, and I had some local miso kicking around in my fridge already. Bonus!
Local Ingredients, Preparation and Cost – The ingredients were for the most part fairly easy to find, however bonito flakes were nowhere to be found. I also could not buy everything locally, however I got some local spinach, miso, and squash (I used Kabocha instead of butternut) at this wonderful store near me called Ingredients. Cost is always slightly more when you go local, but for the most part the ingredients were well priced. The preparation was easy for this, except for tearing apart the squash, I think I sprained my finger pressing down so hard on my knife!
Time – I was impressed by how quickly this soup came together. I think in all, with the prep clean up and cook time it took around an hour.
Appearance, Taste & Texture, Satiety Level – The appearance was lovely, I really enjoy the look of orange and green together, and the sesame seeds gave it a nice touch. The taste was amazing, you could really taste the honey miso with hints of kombu which was marinated in the broth. I opted out of the mushrooms, as I feel like it would compete in texture. I was pleasantly full from this recipe as well, but not too full.
Longevity – I will have to report back on this one, but I did store the noodles separately, as I’ve made soba noodle soup in the past and the noodles can easily go mushy/take up all the liquid in the soup.
Overall, this recipe was rated a 33 out of 40
I hope you liked my first post back! Let me know what you think of this local food challenge and if you have any suggestions. What local foods have popped up in your area? I really enjoy pumpkin during this time of year! Anyone else been dealing with lots of change? I suggest you all look at your morning routine, it can really help.
xoxo Hannah