down to the core: acorn-y blog post about my day

As some of you may know from my previous post, I had a cold over the weekend. My throat was my main concern and it was just very sore. But I felt completely healthy and ready for school the past two days, with only traces of a cold. Last night I could hear my voice sounding a little off and scratchy, but I didn't think too much of it... Until this morning when I woke up and couldn't make any sounds. Has that ever happened to any of you? When I opened my mouth to tell my mom "good morning!" nothing came out. As the morning progressed, my voice transmuted to a very quiet and raspy whisper sound so I figured it would be best to keep quiet as much as possible.

That was quite a difficult task for me. I had to have friends ask questions for me in classes, contain myself in classes when the awkward silences occurred (in which I usually answer the teacher's question to break the silence), and forced myself to not share all the thoughts that usually come spilling out of me when the bell rings and I walk in the hall with friends. It all just goes to show how much I actually talk in a day!

Lunch was one of the hardest times to keep quiet though for sure. Among all the loud noise in the cafeteria, my measly "voice" was hard to hear and I was having a hard time finding it in me to "talk" any louder. So I couldn't exactly communicate very well.

The biggest bright side to lunch was the leftovers from last night I prepared for myself today. Last night my mom and I made acorn squash with pepper and onion quinoa, and it was delicious. I'm sure most of you have not heard of acorn squash, but it's part of the squash family, closely related to the pumpkin. It's a winter squash, so it's in season right now. It's low in fats and carbohydrates but high in fiber and somewhat high in protein. Also, acorn squash has over 30% of your daily recommended amount of Vitamin C.

The quinoa my mom made to put inside the squash was just sauteed roasted red peppers (from a jar) and onions with quinoa, and I added balsamic to dress the squash and quinoa. We left the seeds to roast as well, and they ultimately tasted like pumpkin seeds to me.

So here I am, blogging, finally giving my voice a complete rest. I told myself once I got home I wouldn't say a thing, but of course I had to fill my parents in on my day, and then I ended up tutoring a friend (which was quite the interesting situation).

Also, I apologize that I don't have a picture of the final outcome of the squash and quinoa. I guess last night I was so excited to dig in that I didn't even remember to snap a picture of it. But I promise the next time I make this dish I will upload a picture for you all!

Anyway, the lessons learned today: don't tutor without a voice (although I'm pretty proud of how successful we were), don't take what you have for granted, don't forget to photograph my end results, and do bring leftovers for lunch. It's a nice change from my daily menu and especially if it's acorn squash it'll be the envy of everyone around. (At least I think it was at my table...)

Here's what you'll need:

2 acorn squash (1 half = 1 serving)

olive oil

pepper (and optional salt) to taste

1. Preheat the oven to 350. Wash the acorn squash, and cut it down the middle. Scoop out all seeds. (Set aside the seeds for later roasting if you want).