Defining Wellness

Hello, my sweet dumplings. How do you all like your new nicknames? My sweet dumplings? LOL. Reminds me of a time I went to a Michael Buble concert in Philadelphia and he called all of us in the audience his “little cheesesteaks.” Philadelphia — Philadelphia cheesesteaks — get it?

Anywho, back to sweet dumplings.

Carter bought a sweet dumpling squash a few nights ago — he thought it looked cool and sounded yummy, so we ended up roasting it with a bunch of other vegetables. It wasn’t just yummy — it was awesomeness! Vegetables are delicious when roasted — even the fussiest vegetable eaters are likely to enjoy roasted vegetables, because roasting caramelizes the veggies and brings out their flavors. Here are the ingredients and directions for our roasted veggie medley from this weekend:

Ingredients:
sweet dumpling squash, peeled and sliced
1 crown broccoli, chopped
Small white onions, peeled, left whole or cut in half depending on size
1/2 orange pepper, cut into strips
1/2 yellow pepper, cut into strips

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Put all veggies in glass roasting dish and/or on a cookie sheet.
3. Coat all veggies except squash with 1 T canola oil and garlic salt.
4. Spray squash on one side with canola oil spray, and roast with spray side down so it doesn’t stick to the cookie sheet.
5. Roast all veggies for 30 minutes, stopping 15 minutes through cooking time to spray tops of squash with canola oil spray and flip over.

The sweet dumpling squash are so flavorful that they don’t need anything other than a little bit of cooking spray to keep them from sticking to the pan and to help them brown a little. They don’t even need salt! They’re not as sweet or starchy as sweet potatoes. They taste a bit like butternut squash, only better. We served our roasted veggies with tuna burgers cooked on our grill pan and topped with cheese and ketchup. We get our frozen tuna burgers from Whole Foods, and we always keep some on hand — that’s how good they are.

The sweet dumpling squash was so unexpectedly tasty that I decided to make this a weekend of trying new things. I tried a skinny decaf pumpkin spice latte without whipped cream from Starbucks . . .

. . . and honestly, I don’t know what all of the fuss is about. I’ve been hearing about how awesome these things are in magazines, on Web sites, on blogs, and just from hearing people talk about them. Am I missing something? I really wasn’t impressed. The spice combination was strange, the pumpkin flavor was very muted and it just wasn’t worth the money. I MUCH prefer a creamy, delicious, comforting skinny decaf vanilla cappuccino. Sometimes at home, I just heat up some warm milk in the microwave, froth it with my aerolatte, pour in some sugar-free vanilla, and have a delicious warm drink at a fraction of the cost of a Starbucks beverage. No more pumpkin lattes for me.

But some other new things I tried out were much more successful . . .

I bought my first pair of “skinny jeans,” and I want eight more pairs.

And . . . I took all of your suggestions for overnight oats, and THIS TIME, they were great!

Thank you to Lara, It All Changes, Loveprevails, The Candid RD, Voralicious Vorilee, kubiclekitchen, and of course, my awesome mother-in-law, for the great suggestions!

Here’s what I combined in my second batch of overnight oats the night before:
1/2 cup rolled oats
1 container Dannon vanilla yogurt
1/8 cup skim milk
1 teaspoon honey
chopped strawberries

Add in the morning, I added:
blueberries
2 T not sweet vanilla Galaxy Granola
1 T ground flaxseed

The honey, vanilla and berries combined together fabulously for a refreshing, satisfying and energizing bowl of overnight oats!

Now I’m excited to try some other combinations!

Trying new things can be daunting or frustrating at times, and it doesn’t always end in satisfaction, but it always ends with you knowing just a little bit more about yourself!

What’s one new thing you’ve been wanting to try?