This time of year, when its cold outside, my favourite thing to do is sit back and enjoy a warming bowl of soup. There are so many reasons why soup is the BEST, but my main love is that they are soooooo easy to make AND they are jam packed with nutritious ingredients.

I was scanning through Pinterest for inspiration and I stumbled on a couple of recipes but non of them really hit the spot. Either they had too much sugar or added cream, which aren't great for you. So I decided to adapt and make my own recipe for this filling butternut squash soup. Its full of flavour and has just the right amount of sweet. You can top it with some greek yogurt and fresh ground pepper and ‘Bob’s your uncle’ a perfectly well rounded soup.

Honestly this soup is so easy, all you need to do is chop all the ingredients and throw it in the slow cooker.

INGREDIENTS

1 butternut squash
1 medium white onion
3 medium carrots
2 celery stalks
2 apples
2 cloves garlic
2 cups vegetable (or chicken) broth
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. turmeric

METHOD

Chop and peel the butternut squash, chop everything else (leave the skin on the apples) and place them all in the slow cooker. You can chop the garlic if you like but I put the cloves in whole. Add all the spices then pour in the stock. Set the slow cooker to high for 3-4 hours OR set on low for 5-6 hours.

When the butternut squash is soft you can place the soup in the blender and blend till smooth. If you like it a little thinner just add some water to the blender.

Serve with greek yogurt and enjoy!

What brings families together better than tacos?? In my opinion, NOTHING! I have a big place in my heart for build your own food at the table. It allows for creativity and zero (ok, well maybe not zero…but very few) objections about what you are going to put in your belly. If you don’t like tomatoes, don’t use them…..if you LOVE cabbage, put as much in your taco as you like. I find that giving options (but not too many) work really well to satisfy everyone’s taste buds.

This recipe is a slow cooker recipe so you don’t need much time slaving over the meat, just the time spent on the sides/accompaniments. AMAZING right?? More time to work, play, clean or workout!!

Find the list of ingredients at the bottom of this post.

Step one, and you can skip this step if you like. However, I like it because I like some crispy parts of meat. Chop the pork into chunks and brown on all sides on a high heat.

Step two, place meat, spices and water into the slow cooker and cook on high for 4-6 hrs.

Step three, while you wait for the meat prepare some side dishes…I like shredded cabbage, avocado and tomatoes.

Step four, take the meat out of the slow cooker and shred it on a plate with two forks.

Step five, place the juice from the slow cooker into a frying pan, mix 1 tbsp. of tapioca or cornstarch with a little water. Pour the tapioca/cornstarch mixture into the juices and bring to a boil to thicken the mixture.

Step six, place the shredded meat and sauce into the serving bowl and take to the table along with the remaining sides (including soft taco shells) serve with fresh cilantro and lime wedges.