The little cowboy loves lemurs and if you are a fan of the Penguins of Madagascar you know how hilarious King Julian is! The Penguins of Madagascar are a family favorite of the Henry's and we DVR just about every episode and watch them together. It was with great excitement last month that we traveled to the Safari Zoological Park in Caney, Kansas just to see the lemurs.
**Photos taken by Stephanie at the Safari Zoological Park
When we first arrived the lemurs jumped from their trees to side of the cages in anticipation of the "cookies" they knew would be thrown into their cages. The little cowboy purchased two bags of cookies to feed to the animals along our walk through the park.
The little cowboy made friends with this special lemur and he nicknamed him King Julian because he was a greedy little lemur who always had his hand out wanting a cookie. I think he enjoyed one entire bag of cookies just from us.
King Julian thought we were such an easy target to beg cookies from that he brought along a friend for us to feed too!
We were finally all out of cookies and the lemur pal that we named Fred (not sure why Fred seemed to fit but he looked like a Fred) was not happy that we were out of cookies. The little cowboy said, "Fred has to be full of cookies but he's still begging for more!"
As I looked back at these photos of our summer family time it made me think of my goal for this week and how I have been doing with week 2 of our Meltdown.
My goal this week is to find out what hungry is. That may seem simple, or weird as the little cowboy said, but for me I'm not sure I really knew what hungry was.
We know when to eat or at least we think we know when to eat. We're told to eat breakfast to fuel your body, I normally eat lunch at noon, and I usually eat supper around 6 (prior to Meltdown). Am I hungry at all of those times? The answer is probably not.
As creatures of habit or lemurs who love cookies we eat at specific times not necessarily because we're hungry but because it's what we've always done. This week my journal has revealed that I eat sometimes out of boredom, because I'm stressed, or because I don't know what else to do. I found myself wandering around the kitchen Sunday just surveying the pantry. I wasn't hungry. More bored than anything so I closed the pantry, put on my tennis shoes, and went for a walk. When I returned back to the house I wans't hungry at all and the munchies I thought I had went away.
My challenge for you this week is to find out what hungry really is. Don't just eat because it's that time of day. Ask yourself on a scale of 1-5 (5 being ravenous), just how hungry are you?
Simple Butternut Squash
4 ww points for 2 Cups
244 calories for 2 cups
I LOVE thick, hearty and rich vegetable based soups in the winter. This soup has so much flavor that there really is NO cream required. You will be surprised at how easy it is to make and by the flavor. The onion, garlic and ginger give it a nice spice, while the brown sugar and squash sweeten it slightly.
Ingredients (4 servings)
- 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 large onion, chopped
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 1 thumb-sized piece ginger, peeled and minced
- 2 Tbsp brown sugar (I use brown sugar splenda)
- 1 medium butternut squash, peeled and cut into chunks
- 3 c low-sodium chicken or vegetable broth (I use chicken broth ~ 99% Fat Free/low sodium)
- Sea Salt & Freshly Ground Pepper to taste
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic and ginger, and sauté, stirring frequently, for 6 to 8 minutes, until the onion is soft, but, not browned. Stir in the brown sugar and set aside.
- Cook the squash in a large pot with the broth until tender, 25 to 30 minutes.
- Remove the squash from the heat, but do not drain. Let cool for 10 minutes. Add the garlic-ginger mixture.
- Work in batches, transfer the soup to a food process or blender and process until smooth.
- Return the soup to the pot and cook over medium heat for 5 minutes longer. Season with salt and pepper.
- Top each serving with a sprinkle of toasted pumpkin seeds or almond slices. Serve immediately.
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