Following a few discussions with new Mothers about meal planning, recipe ideas and batch cooking, I thought I’d share a couple of soup recipes, over the next few weeks. I make these soups most weeks during winter, usually for lunch. I say recipes, but I improvise a lot based on a some core ingredients. The recipes are very forgiving and adaptable so IDEAL for those times when you might have some random veggies in the fridge that need using up, or are short of time and energy and are struggling to pull a nutritious meal together. It’s totally normal to experience these moments with early postpartum, especially if you haven’t got others cooking for you…..and, who are we kidding, if you are anything like me, life pretty much looked like this beyond the first few months and well in to the first couple of years.

There are lots of delicious postpartum specific recipes available that have specific warming or grounding elements. The ones I’m sharing today are everyday recipes that my whole family eat, that I might just tweak a little here and there depending on how newly postpartum a Mother is.

So, these are recipes you can make pretty easily, or better still, a partner, friend or family member could make for you if they come to visit. Better still, they could make it at their home and bring it with them when they visit so any mess is made in their kitchen and not yours!! The soups keep well in the fridge for a few days and also freeze well. The ideal for postpartum is that you eat freshly cooked, warming meals, but let’s be honest, some days you need the convenience of something made the day before or that you can grab out of the freezer. If so, just re-heat as much as you need on the stove.

The first recipe I’m going to share is good old Minestrone Soup. I use the recipe below as a base and some days I add other things depending on mood or what I have in the fridge.

Ingredients:

1 large onion

2-4 sticks of celery

3-5 carrots

1 leek

1/4 cabbage (I tend to use green/white cabbage or savoy)

1-2 garlic cloves or granules are also fine

teaspoon of dried herbs (I tend to use mixed herbs but oregano or basil is great too)

2 ripe large tomatoes

Stock/broth of choice (I generally use chicken or beef as it’s collagen rich (great postpartum) but I have used vegetable in the past)

Salt and pepper to taste

Choice of oil/fat to sautee veggies (ghee, butter, olive oil or duck fat all work fine - ghee is my preference for postpartum )

A tablespoon of tomato puree/paste (optional)

A handful or two of macaroni pasta or rice (optional)

A few slices of bacon or pancetta (optional)

Method:

Chop the veggies to a size of your liking.
Briefly fry the onion , and bacon if you're using it, then add the celery carrots and tomatoes, stir in the garlic and the seasoning then cover and cook gently for about 20 mins.
Pour in the stock to generously cover the veggies and simmer gently, covered, for about an hour. Then stir in the leeks, cabbage, macaroni (if using) and tomato puree and cook, uncovered, until the veg and macaroni are cooked.

In terms of the timings, they are pretty loose. I sometimes add the leeks in earlier with the carrots etc and add the cabbage in when I add the stock then just leave it to cook, especially if I’m time poor. Whatever I do it usually ends up pretty yummy. My point is, it’s very forgiving and if you get called away to deal with nappies, feeds, big emotions, whatever the day brings it should be okay just simmering for a bit longer.

A traditional minestrone usually has macaroni pasta or rice so you can add a handful of this in if you like. I’m more about the veggies so generally don’t bother but it does bulk it up and the kids prefer it. You can add bacon if you like but totally not necessary.

You can easily add more or different veggies. In the past I’ve added zucchini, butternut squash, sweetcorn, kale and even asparagus (though I add that at the end). It’s also not the end of the world if you don’t have one of the veggies listed. I quite often made it without the leek.

A batch like this makes about 2 litres (give or take) which easily provides 4 hearty portions and will store on the fridge for a few days and you could just double it if you wanted plenty to freeze or you have more people to feed.

A note on stock/broth - this is a great postpartum food. Nothing beats homemade broth (a great job to outsource to others if you have a newborn). Rich in collagen, great for healing postpartum. Homemade broth isn’t alway possible and I’d certainly prefer you were resting than trying to find time to make broth sooooooo, know that there are now quite a few decent brands of broth concentrate (not stock cubes) that you can have to hand in the fridge. They are great for using in soups, and I also often add a spoonful in to other dishes I make for taste and to boost the nutrient density of the meal. Some brands I’ve tried and tested and have the thumbs up from me are Gevity Bone Glue (odd name I know, but it’s basically broth concentrate), Broth O Life, Best of the Bone and Nutraorganics. I have no affiliation with any of these brands, there are others around I’m sure. I use the first 3 regularly and I trust the ingredients and how they are made. The key is to make sure they are made from quality ingredients, ones you would find in home cooked broth. Increasingly you can also find fresh stock in the fridge section of many health stores if that suited better.