Butternut Squash and Blue Cheese Quinoa

Try not to be shocked that you’re seeing a recipe on my blog. I know, it’s been a hot minute. Forgive me, for I have blog sinned. I’ve just been eating way too much Chick-fil-A.

At Trader Joe’s, the produce isn’t priced by weight, but just a set number. B-nut squash is $1.99, so naturally I picked up the largest one I could find. This monster was like a newborn baby. Lugging it up the stairs was both a bicep and a leg workout and I am not even kidding.

You know what else was a workout? Peeling the stupid thing. #firstworldproblems

I cut the squash up in 1-inch cubes and roasted it for about 35 minutes on 400*.  That evening, I used it to decorate my quinoa.

Butternut Squash and Blue Cheese Quinoa

Ingredients:

• 1 cup quinoa
• 2 cups low-sodium, fat free chicken broth
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• 3 cups roasted cubed butternut squash
• 6 oz. bag of baby spinach
• 4  Laughing Cow blue cheese wedges (or use 2 oz. blue cheese)

Preparation:

1. In a large saucepan, add quinoa, chicken broth, and cinnamon and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 10-15 minutes or until broth is absorbed.
2. Add the butternut squash  and blue cheese and mix well.
3. Stir in the spinach until wilted.

Love a colorful recipe! If only this had something purple in it, then we’d have all my favorite colors.

As I was eating this and loving it (obviously), I asked my twitter friends for help naming the recipe. I got some funny responses:

Ben, Thatrunnerchick, and Boding are amazing.

Stevie is a freakshow and I love him.

Andy and Derek aren’t allowed in my house now.

Bo, Heather, RotiRolls and Holly can walk right in the door without knocking.

Have I told you guys lately that I love twitter?

One Yogurt I Hate, One Yogurt I Like

Let's talk about the most disgusting thing that has recently entered my life, and then...the most delicious. I don't usually stray from Greek yogurt, but when I saw the Weight Watcher's Blueberry Pie flavor, I snatched it and threw it in my cart. I love love love blueberries and blueberry-flavored things, and since it was 1/1000th  the price of Greek yogurt, I figured Wachovia wouldn't mind if I tried it. I brought it to work with Blue Diamond Almond Breeze Milk and a banana. So many Bs!

Look at a close up of the yogurt...can you see why I couldn't resist? It's a pie!

I pulled back the top and was greeted with the most obnoxious blue color ever. It was like the brightest blue in my face before 9AM. Not okay. I dipped my spoon in the yogurt, and took a tiny bite....OMGross. It was so bad. Awful. Fake. Tangy. Sour. Disgusting. This was NOT a blueberry pie in my mouth - this was a disaster that was thrown in the trash about 15 seconds later. 

Since I'm pretty vocal about, um, everything, I told my coworkers so they knew not to ever spend a penny on this trash. Thankfully I have some kickass coworkers, and one of them offered me some food: grapes & a wedge of laughing cow cheese.

This pretty much saved my morning.

After trying the oh-so-delicious cherry Fage yogurt the other day, I decided to buy more. 

 

Cherry, check, onto the Peach! I anticipated the same amazingness as I experienced with the cherry. 

It was alllmost as good, but still yummy. The peach topping was similar to canned peaches, but the yogurt, again, being 2%, was so creamy!

And, for Nikki...

:)

Also, stay tuned for a full review of alllllll of these bars...and many more that I'll soon be buying.