Cooking for Days…

I don’t know about you but I know I struggle on a regular basis to have lunch or dinners ready or on hand. Dinner time rolls around and I am scrambling to find something to make. I have found it easiest to do one day of bulk cooking. I make a giant pot of soup, refrigerate part of it and freeze the rest for a later date. It makes life much easier. I do meal plan, some days are fresh quick meals and on days we are busy I use my back up freezer meals.  They are really helpful when Hudson is STARVING...and latched to my leg in the kitchen, I  can pull out an on hand meal.

I have also found freezer meals handy when Hudson is sick or I don’t feel like cooking while Jordan is home. Most of the time I can get one or two done during a nap time which is great. It doesn’t always work out nicely but Hudson likes to help stir or just sit on the counter while I finish up. I have also done 12 meals it took most of a day but was so worth it later. On those days I enlist my sisters or mom to help with Hudson.

Yesterday I was able to make two soups for lunch or dinner. If you use them for dinner I would add a sandwich or salad to be more filling. During the winter months soups are my go-to for lunch but sometimes dinner. The first was from my FAVORITE morning show and second is my own recipe.

Tomato and Roasted Vegetable Soup, it was super easy and all the vegetables are so tasty after roasting. I would recommend vegetable stock instead of chicken stock to thin the soup out. I only had chicken stock so I used it but the soup tastes more like chicken then vegetables which was kind of a bummer.

In addition to the tomato soup I made my Spicy sausage, kale and butternut squash soup. This one is so EASY!

Sausage, Kale Butternut Squash soup 

1 container of store bought plain Butternut Squash soup, I use the organic boxed brand Pacific

1 lb of breakfast sausage pork or turkey, I use spicy pork sausage.

1 bunch of Kale, shopped

4 leaves of fresh Sage, minced

3 garlic cloves, minced

1/4 teaspoon of dry sage

1 package Parmesan cheese

1 box chicken stock, Low Sodium Pacific brand too.

Salt and pepper each step. I use more pepper than salt.

1. Chop Kale let it marinate in a cup or two of chicken stock while you prepare the rest of the ingredients. I would recommend about 20-30 mins of marinating but not necessary.

2. Pour soup into saucepan and warm

3. Brown sausage on low to medium heat,Add chopped kale. cook until it begins to wilt, add a splash of chicken stock, the steam will help it wilt faster.

4. Stir in dry sage, minced garlic and fresh sage. Until you can start to smell them slightly. Garlic should be golden brown and sage should be slightly browned.

5. Drain sausage, add to the warmed soup. Bring the heat up until the soup begins to boil slightly.

6. Sprinkle with Parmesan. Serve with a side salad.

If you browned the sausage, you could toss everything in the slow cooker for the flavor to marinate all day. You could double everything and freeze one in a gallon freezer bag. Let it cool completely before putting in the bag, lay flat to freeze to save space.

I have more recipes of bulk nap time cooking. I will share in a couple days once I get the measurements and recipes perfected. I hope these recipes can help you stay sane during your busy week!

Happy Cooking Friends!