For many years, I worked part-time outside of the home.
Now, I’m a full-time stay-at-home mom.
Kinda. I guess when I think of stay-at-home mom, I don’t think of myself. Because yes, I “stay-at-home” (ie. my 2 year old is attached at the hip 24-7), but that doesn’t mean I don’t “work.” I’ve always had side projects going on, & of course running the day to day activities of our family & home life is a part-time job in & of itself. I realize it’s a little ill-informed to associate “stay-at-home” with “not-doing-much,” because anyone who has experienced the life of a stay-at-home parent for any amount of time knows that it’s the exact opposite. Yes there are down times, dull times, but especially when there are small children involved in the mix, there’s always something going on, something to do. Nevertheless, proud as I am of my title as Mother, I just don’t relate entirely with the label.
For the first time since I began having babies 8 years ago, I get to enjoy being home every day–no classes to teach, most days nowhere to be. It’s nice.
And spending the bulk of the day–just me & Salem–well, it’s a treat.
She’s hilarious.
She has a sense of humor (really, she’s funny, in a witty sort of way, for a 2 year old that is).
She also has a defined sense of taste & opinions about things.
The other day, it was raining, kind of cold. Once it stopped raining, she just wanted to go outside and sit on the driveway with her bear–whose name is, appropriately, bear. She carries it around everywhere, cannot sleep without it, often talks to it, pushes her around in her baby stroller, & like a good mama, puts it “to sleep.”
I sat on front porch & watched her.
She’d get up & run around, talking to herself, to her bear.
I thought: to be a kid again, where everything is magical, & anything is possible.
♥
We often share whatever food I’ve made for lunch.
Lunch is my time to explore & create recipes. Salem “helps” me. Like that one time she dumped a whole brand new jar of ginger in a bowl of cookies–that kind of help.
It’s fun to have a little buddy & to be able to devote my attention to her, which wasn’t a luxury the other kids received since they’re all so close in age.
The other day I made this soup & pesto.
Salem was hesitant to eat it at first, but I crushed some tortilla chips in it, stirred it around, & she ate the whole bowl.
The thing that really jazzes this soup is the pesto.
This pesto is good on just about anything savory–potatoes, pasta, rice, toast…hmm, probably not oatmeal though. Or in a smoothie. Don’t try that.
I have a sad story about the pesto.
After lunch, I was carrying the ceramic bowl to the fridge to put away, thinking of all the delicious possibilities–pesto in a wrap, on pasta, with some raw veggies, when all of sudden, my pregnant “butter” fingers just let go of the bowl & smash–my beautiful pesto & bowl splattered & shattered. It was sad indeed. But you know, the whole clumsy-while-pregnancy thing is real. I’ve experienced it.
A pumpkin soup with a red quinoa & sweet potato twist topped with a hemp kale pesto.
Ingredients
- 1 medium/large sweet onion
- 1 TBS. olive oil | or 1/4 c. water
- 1, 15 oz. can pumpkin (about 1 3/4 c.)
- 4 c. water
- 2 TBS. no-salt seasoning (like Mrs. Dash original)
- 1 TBS. nutritional yeast
- 1 TBS. chopped fresh parsley | or 1/2 TBS. dried
- 2 tsp. sweetener of choice
- 1/2 tsp. onion powder
- 1/2 tsp. sage
- 1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper (or more, if you want some heat)
- 2 sweet potatoes, peeled & cubed
- 1/2 c. uncooked red quinoa | regular quinoa works too
- 4 c. washed, chopped kale
- 1/2 c. hemp nut seeds
- 1/4 c. olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic
- juice of 1/2 lemon (about 1 1/2-2 TBS.)
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- fresh cracked black pepper
Instructions
- Warm a cast iron skillet on medium heat. Add 1 TBS. oil, or omit oil if doing oil-free. Cut onions in medium chunks (doesn't matter if they're pretty or uniform, they'll be blended) & saute for 5-7 minutes. If doing oil-free, add 1/4 c. water.
- Once onions are cooked down & soft, place onions, pumpkin, 1 c. of the water, along with all the seasonings, parsley, & sweetener in a blender. Blend on high until very smooth (I ran it on about 1/2 cycle on the "soups" setting). Set aside.
- In a large soup kettle/pot, add remaining water & cubed sweet potatoes (you want the cubes to be smallish, but uniform), & quinoa. Bring to a boil. Add the pumpkin/onion puree, cover, & allow to simmer for 15 minutes. The quinoa should be cooked by then--make sure not to overcook--you don't want mushy sweet potatoes.
- In a food processor (not a blender, doesn't quite work in a blender, at least that's been my experience), place ingredients in order listed. Pulse a few times, then run on high for 30-45 seconds until ingredients are incorporated, but the pesto remains some texture. The point of pesto is to have a little texture, it's not a complete puree, so be careful not to over-pulverize.
- Serve soup with a dollop of pesto & some fresh parsley. Pesto is meant to be stirred into soup--soo good.
- Pesto keeps for about 3 days in fridge. Soup lasts 3-5 days in fridge, otherwise, freeze leftovers for up to 3 months in freezer bag or container.
Additional nutritional info: For soup: 10 mg sodium, 31 g carbs, 5.4 g fiber, 5 g sugar, 5 g protein, 4 WWP (Weight Watcher Plus) points per serving; For 1 TBS. pesto: 77 mg sodium, 1.5 g carbs, 1 g fiber, 2 g protein, 0 g sugar, 2 WWP points per serving
{this recipe shared as part of Ricki Heller’s Wellness Weekend–for more healthy treats & dishes, check it out here}
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