Inspiration, inspiration everywhere!

So, I must say that one of my biggest complaints when it comes to cooking is figuring out what I'm going to make.  I often find myself staring blankly into the refrigerator or freezer, 30 minutes before the meal should be served wondering what the heck I'm going to make.  It's horrible...I hate it.  What I hate almost as much is preparing and eating the same 7-10 things over and over and over again.  I think one of the reasons I look forward to spring time is because we can finally fire up the grill.  I find it so much easier to gain inspiration when the grill is involved.  Maybe it works on more of my senses....cooking out in nature does bring a sense of calm.  Listening to the birds sing, feeling a gentle breeze blow through your hair...and the smell of delicious meat caramelizing over an open flame...a feel a bit better just thinking about it. 

I know through my journey of changing my lifestyle, this will continue to plague me...so the past few days, I've been thinking about where I can get ideas...what's going to inspire me from day to day to continue on this path??  What's going to keep me reaching for the sweet potatoes and stop me from grabbing the frozen pizza????  I'm like most people...when I find myself searching for answers, I go to the one person in my life who knows everything...my Mom.  I talked to her about it a bit and she said something very simple that made all the sense in the world...she said, "It's all about changing how you think."  At first it was a simple statement that didn't really effect me all that much, but as I processed or conversation, and went back over things in my head...it seemed to continue to play in my mind.  "It's all about CHANGING how YOU think."...changing....how I think...what I think, when I think, where I think and what I think about.  It's about making this a priority in my day...it's about putting my health and my families health above all else...it's about looking at the world through different eyes and seeing the inspiration and motivation in everything around me.  I suppose some of you might be saying "Well, duh.  Of course you have to change how you think."  But think about that for a second...how easy is it to change who we are??  How easy is it to change what you do??  Think about something big in your life that you've changed...was it a permanent change or something you did for a short time to get by and then went back to the way things used to be??  You see as humans, we are creatures of habit...we find some place that we think feels comfortable (even if it's not) and we dig in and hang out there for the long haul.  Change is VERY hard...it requires constant attention...constant inspiration and constant motivation.  I feel strongly that I have the motivation....I'm driven by the health of my children and husband...what could keep you more motivated than the well-being of the people you love the most in the world???  I think as women, we often put ourselves second, or third or fourth...but we always put or families first, but I definitely need to work on the attention and inspiration.  I know I'm not going to have huge "AH HA" life changing moments every day that will inspire my cooking...I know I need to look at my everyday to keep me going.

So that brings us to today's recipes.  My inspiration was a conversation with my sister Andrea.  Any of you who don't know me personally don't realize that I have a lot of sisters...four to be exact...so I imagine I will be giving all of them credit for my inspiration from time to time.  I was talking to Andrea about our everyday lives and our conversation turned to food.  She mentioned that she had made some delicious potato soup and Irish soda bread for supper the night before...it's been pretty chilly here the last couple of days, so soup and fresh bread sounded amazing.  I LOVE potato soup, it was a staple in our household growing up...something fairly inexpensive and quick to make...but I decided to change it up a bit. (New things, different way...you know the drill) I decided to make sweet potato soup with a Greek yogurt creme and a oatmeal quick bread. 

Sweet Potato Soup

2 T butter
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
salt and pepper
red pepper flakes (optional)
2 T flour
2 c chicken stock
1 T light brown sugar
3 sweet potatoes, cooked and cubed
1/8 t cinnamon
1 c half & half (may use milk or heavy cream)
Salt and pepper

In a sauce pot melt butter, add onions, garlic, salt and pepper and red pepper flakes.  Cook until onions are soft.

Sprinkle flour over onion mixture and stir.  Cook for a couple minutes while stirring to brown flour.  Add chicken stock to pan while stirring.  Mix in brown sugar.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer.  Add sweet potatoes and cinnamon, bring to a simmer again and cook for 5 more minutes.  Blend the soup with an immersion blender or stand blender (may need to do this in batches), return to pan.  Add half and half & reheat soup.  Salt and pepper to taste, serve.     

For the Greek yogurt cream, I just mixed 3 T plain, fat-free Greek yogurt with 2 t honey and 1/8 t cinnamon.  Serve a spoonful on top of each bowl of soup.

Oatmeal Quick Bread

1 c rolled oats
1 c whole wheat flour
2 t baking powder
1 t salt
2 T honey
1 T olive oil
1 c milk

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  In a large bowl, combine oats, flour, baking powder and salt.  In a separate bowl, combine honey and oil, add milk.  Combine both mixtures until a soft dough is formed.  Place in a greased loaf pan.  Bake 22 minutes until golden brown. 

If you want a little less texture in your bread, you can grind the oatmeal in your blender or food processor prior to adding it to the wheat flour. 

Inspiration doesn't always find us...sometimes we need to be looking for it...sometimes we have to be searching for it...looking under ever rock we can see!!  Our willingness to change is just the beginning step in our journey...or ability to change depends greatly on our motivation to do so and the amount of  attention we pay to the process.  I hope you enjoy the recipes!!