Those of you who follow my personal account on Instagram know I love to cook and eat delicious food. Cooking fresh, wholesome meals helps me feel healthier, boosts my energy levels, and improves my sleep and resilience to stress. One of my absolute favorite resources for great recipes is Carlsbad Cravings. Carlsbad Cravings was created in 2014 by Jen, a Cystic Fibrosis survivor and lung and kidney transplant recipient living in Carlsbad, California. Her recipes are known for their big, BOLD flavors. I find her Asian inspired recipes especially delicious. Today I'd like to feature her Slow Cooker Thai Coconut Chicken & Wild Rice Soup.

She describes this soup as, "hearty, warm, ultra comforting, healthy and gluten free."

I found this soup super easy to make and modify (especially when my partner came back from the grocery store with an acorn squash instead of a butternut squash!). 

This soup can also be altered to become vegetarian if you simply omit the chicken.  Most importantly, I found that it held up really well when frozen and reheated!  I love recipes like this because it means I can make big batches of incredible food when I have the time, and still enjoy them during the periods where I am too busy or too tired to cook something up. In addition to substituting acorn squash for the butternut I also toasted the coconut flakes and omitted the cilantro garnish (while I love cilantro, my partner can't stand it).

If you have any great recipes to share I would love to try them!