Snow day, spinning and a quinoa chicken soup recipe.

I have the perfect opportunity to do a blog post right now, while I wait the arrival of my husband returning from his week of training and while all four kids are at a neighbor's house for a Halloween party.  The house is so quiet right at this moment.  I treasure that silence.  All I hear right are my fingers hitting the keys and the whir of the  heater.

This morning we awoke to this beautiful scene:

Later in the morning, after taking my daughter to an activity, I had the chance to hit the gym.  I even got in about an hour in the weight room before going to spin class.  I did abs, glutes and shoulders.  I was still feeling sore from yesterday, but it wasn't bad enough to hamper my lifting today.  Then, of course spinning was fabulous.  Today was a "climbing" day, according to our instructor, so no sprints or speed, just all hard and heavy.

This afternoon, I made a batch of the most delicious and clean chicken soup, which was perfect for a day like today.

Here's how I made it...first, pour two cans of chicken stock (clean, check your labels) and 4-5 cups of water into a stock pot and turn heat to medium.  Add chopped carrots, cubed summer squash, 4 cloves of minced garlic, 1/3 cup of dry lentils, 2/3 cup rinsed quinoa, kale (washed and torn into bite size pieces), salt and pepper to taste.  Keep at a low boil for about 30 minutes.

In another pan, saute 2 large, cubed chicken breasts with about 2 tablespoons of olive oil and a dash of sea salt.  When it's browned, add it to soup mixture along with 1 can of black beans (again, check your label on the beans since some canned beans contain sugar).  Let simmer for another 15 minutes or so and voila!  Super healthy, super thick, super delicious, super-soup! :)