As a busy mum to three active boys and running a business from home, the idea of a quick and easy meal appeals to me a LOT!
I am also, however, a self confessed food snob and won’t accept any old ‘quick ‘n’ easy’ meal. I like a tasty and nutritious meal made mostly with ‘real’ ingredients.
Personally, I don’t mind the whole cooking for the family process, but there are some nights when managing the boys, extracurricular activities, my own work commitments and deadlines and preparing a meal for everyone can surpass my levels of enjoyment and abilities.
It’s the nights like these; the swimming lesson nights, basketball training and acrobatics in the middle of winter, the ducking out to guitar lessons and the rest of it – ARGH! - that I am rather in love with my Kambrook Soup Simple Soup Maker.
Between getting home from school and racing off to whatever activity we’re off to for that afternoon, I chop the ingredients. When we arrive home, I toss them all in the soup maker and do the post-activity yelling about showering, unpacking school bags and homework whilst the machine lovingly prepares a hot, delicious and nutritious meal for me.
Working from home, I also tend to resort to a Vegemite sandwich using stale bread for my lunch, so having a soup maker offers me a hot, scrummy lunch and something to look forward to. I can keep working while it prepares itself for me, so that’s a bonus!
Having experimented with a few recipes, I think my favourite would have to be a Broccoli and Bacon Soup - two of my favourite foods that can only be made better by combining them into one dish!
Broccoli and Bacon Soup
INGREDIENTS
- 1 medium sized brown onion, peeled and roughly diced
- 3-4 rashers of bacon, most of the fat removed, sliced
- 1-2 cloves of garlic, minced
- 2 heads of broccoli (approx 450g) including the stalks
- 1 stick of celery
- 1 medium potato, peeled and cubed
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 650ml chicken stock*
DIRECTIONS
- In a small saucepan, sauté the bacon, onion and garlic over a low heat for approximately 2-3 minutes or until onion becomes translucent.
- Add the roughly chopped broccoli (including the stalks), celery, potato, salt and pepper to the Soup Simple Soup Maker.
- Add the onion, bacon and garlic, then the chicken stock.
- Attach the lid, turn it on and select the ‘Smooth’ setting and hit start.
- Pour into a soup bowl, add a blob of sour cream or some thinly sliced crispy bacon to garnish. Serve with a toasted ciabatta or sourdough bread.
Optional – add 100ml of cream at the start for a creamy soup.
If you’re really pushed for time, don’t worry about the sautéing of the bacon, onion and garlic – sautéing adds a touch more flavour and colour to the soup, but isn’t essential.
*I prefer to use chicken stock in my soups, as I adore the flavour, however a vegetable stock will work just as well. Better still, a stock made from ham hocks is amazing and you can use the meat from the bones in your Broccoli and Bacon soup instead of bacon!
Recipe created and shared by Amanda Cox.
Amanda Cox - also commonly referred to as Mad Cow - is an insanely busy mum to three boys, wife to a chef, food lover, published author, writer, speaker and founder of online parent support and information website, Real Mums and blogger at Diary of a Mad Cow
With a background as an aerobics instructor, when they were called aerobics instructors, and personal trainer specialising in obesity and weight management, she has a strong passion for helping others live happy, healthy lives. Being a busy mums and having experienced a severe, postnatal depression, she understands just how difficult this can be when raising kids and living a 'real life'. Still, she manages to cook a nutritious, delicious meal for her family most nights of the week, between basketball training, parkour sessions, swimming lessons and wanting to lie under the doona in the foetal position.