Planning Ahead for Baby - Meals

One great way to plan ahead for the arrival of a new baby is to make some meals ahead of time and freeze them.  This ensures that you will have something nutritious and easy to prepare on those nights when you are all exhausted.   I am just starting to make and freeze some meals (mainly soup) in preparation for the arrival of our second child who should be arriving in just a few short weeks.  So I will be posting the various recipes I come up with along the way.    

The first recipe I'll be sharing is one of our all-time favorite soups.  We found it on Epicurious, an incredible resource for all sorts of recipes.   You can find it here or read on for the recipe with some of my personal notes.   

    Makes about 6 cups

Ingredients

• 1 celery rib, chopped
• 1 medium carrot, chopped
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
• 1 lb winter squash, such as butternut, peeled, seeded and cut into 1/2 inch cubes
• 1/2 lb boiling potatoes, chopped into 1/2 inch cubes
• 1 whole peperoncino (small, hot Italian green pepper) or 3/4 tsp dried hot red pepper flakes
• 2 tsp coarse sea salt
• 3.5 cups boiling water
• 1 crisp amaretto (Italian almond macaroon), finely crushed (2 Tbsp)

Preparation

Cook celery, carrot, and onion in 2 tablespoons oil in a 3-quart heavy saucepan over low heat, stirring occasionally, until tender but not browned, 10 to 12 minutes.

Add squash, potatoes, peperoncino, and sea salt. Stir in 3 1/2 cups boiling water and simmer, covered, until vegetables are very tender, about 20 minutes.

Remove and discard peperoncino (if using pepper flakes, leave in soup).

Purée soup in batches in a blender (use caution when blending hot liquids), adding more water to thin to desired consistency.

Serve soup drizzled with additional oil and sprinkled with amaretto crumbs.

My notes...

1. We have never had any Italian almond macaroons on hand (does anyone?) so we disregard that.   We do serve the soup with some chopped up almonds for garnish.
2. This recipe can easily be doubled
3. The part that takes the longest is peeling, seeding and chopping the squash.  Unbeknownst to my husband (he would never stand for this!) I once bought a bag of pre-chopped squash from Trader Joes which shortened the prep process considerably.   Although a fresh squash tastes much better, this was much easier.   You decide!
4. You can make this soup with a beef or other broth but it tastes fantastic with just water for a base.  
5. We have an immersion blender, like this one, and it makes the blending so much easier.  Just stick the immersion blender straight into the pot & blend it up.   Clean up couldn't be much easier.  
6. Remember to let the soup cool to room temp before freezing.  

Hope you enjoy this first recipe.  Let me know what you think.  And if you have other good recipes for freezing, feel free to share them in the comment section.