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Indian-Spiced Acorn Squash Soup

January 5, 2017 By Jessica Braider Leave a Comment

Indian-Spiced Acorn Squash Soup

The following is a recipe I developed for a blog post over at Fair Farms Maryland. This is a super simple, absolutely delicious soup that will warm you up on chilly fall and winter evenings. Enjoy!…

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Filed Under: Dinner, Freezer Cooking, Healthy Eating Tagged With: acorn squash, Easy, healthy, soup, winter

How to Make a Noodle Soup Without a Recipe

March 3, 2016 By Jessica Braider Leave a Comment

How to Make a Noodle Soup Without a Recipe

My family has been on a BIG noodle soup kick this winter. Chicken noodle, vegetable noodle, and Asian noodle have all been on regular rotation and I am loving it! Why? Four reasons: 1) they are easy to make in 30 minutes, 2) they are cheap, 3) I can use whatever I have left in my fridge and it will turn out great, and 4) it is an easy way to get more vegetables in!…

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Filed Under: Cooking Basics, Dinner, Feeding Kids, Lunch, Quick Dinners Tagged With: asian noodle, asparagus, broccoli, cabbage, carrot, celery, chicken noodle, corn, Easy, edadmame, healthy, kale, onion, peas, soup, Spinach, vegetable noodle, Vegetables, vegetarian

Surviving a Cold and Homemade Stock: It is easier than you think!

February 4, 2016 By Jessica Braider Leave a Comment

Surviving a Cold and Homemade Stock: It is easier than you think!

Last week a cold invaded our house. My littlest one brought it home and generously shared it with the rest of us. While he can be quite dramatic about lots of things, the kid is usually very stoic when it comes to being sick, so I didn’t even really realize he had more than a runny nose and a cranky mood until his big brother got sick (and then I was wracked with guilt about how annoyed I had been at his attitude when really he had been feeling crummy—sigh, one more notch in the parenting mistakes column).

Considering it was the end of January, though, and we hadn’t had a cold or flu in the house yet this season, I really couldn’t complain, but just got focused on pulling out all the cold soothing techniques I could. This time ‘round the thing that was most appealing to everyone was broth-based soups. First it was chicken noodle, then it was vegetable noodle, and then there were some of us who just drank broth straight….

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Filed Under: Cooking Basics, Freezer Cooking Tagged With: beef, bone broth, broth, chicken, Easy, food waste, healthy, soup, stew, stock, Vegetables

Slow Cooker Spring Vegetable Minestrone

April 30, 2015 By Jessica Braider Leave a Comment

Slow Cooker Spring Vegetable Minestrone

Now that the weather is getting warmer and the days longer, getting around to making dinner is getting tougher and tougher. The pull to stay outside, to be out and about is just so strong. So I have been making a lot of dinners that can either be cooked very quickly, 5-20 minutes, on the stove or in the pressure cooker (my latest toy), or I have made one-pot dishes that can be prepared in the slow cooker.

So this week I want to share a new favorite in our house, a minestrone that takes advantage of the spring vegetables that are abundant at this time of year. I love this recipe because it is so quick to throw together, can withstand extra time in the slow cooker if needed, is chock-full of vegetables, and tastes like spring. My kids love it because it is cheesy, colorful, has noodles, and they can pick and choose their favorite veggies as they make their way through their meal….

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Filed Under: Dinner, Family Dinner, Feeding Kids, Freezer Cooking, Slow Cooker Tagged With: asparagus, cannellini beans, carrot, celery, Easy, healthy, parmesan, peas, soup, Spinach, Vegetables, vegetarian

100 Days of Real Food Recipe Review: Veggie Corn Chowder

September 2, 2014 By Jessica Braider 2 Comments

100 Days of Real Food Recipe Review: Veggie Corn Chowder

When I got the email from Lisa Leake of 100 Days of Real Food inviting me to write about her new book/cookbook, I was incredibly honored and excited. Lisa is such an inspiration to me! Her passion for healthy food as well as her incredibly realistic and down-to-earth approach to cooking has inspired millions to rethink their approach to feeding themselves and their families.

The book, 100 Days of Real Food: How we did it, what we learned, and 100 easy, wholesome recipes your family will love!, continues the great work she has been doing on her blog and website. The first half starts off with a moving and inspiring explanation of how she and her family took on the challenge of eating in a much more conscious and conscientious way. She then lays out ways that others can start to add more wholesome foods into their own diets and lifestyles. It really takes a lot of the mystery and intimidation out of cutting out processed foods and cooking from scratch….

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Filed Under: Cooking with Kids, Dinner Tagged With: 100 days of real food, recipe review, soup, Vegetables, vegetarian

Simple Beet Soup

June 2, 2014 By Jessica Braider 1 Comment

Simple Beet Soup

My kids have told me over and over again that they don’t like beets. I have tried offering them in a variety of ways over the years- roasted, steamed, grilled, in salads, as a side, with herbs, and plain. Never any success.  Then, two weekends ago, my husband and I had an outstanding dinner at The Farmhouse at Veritas in Virginia and one of the dishes we had was a golden beet soup, which got me thinking: what if I changed the consistency and appearance of the beets? Would that make a difference? …

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Filed Under: Dinner, Family Dinner, Feeding Kids, Picky Eaters Tagged With: beet, Easy, healthy, soup, Vegetables

Sweet Potato-Bok Choy Soup

March 24, 2014 By Jessica Braider Leave a Comment

Sweet Potato-Bok Choy Soup

I love bok choy. I really do. I love it in stir fry because it adds such a wonderful crunch and flavor. There is only one problem: unless I am making a stir fry to feed 10, I always have leftover bok choy and I just don’t know what to do with it. Now, as I have written about before, I hate wasting food, so I have tried it in salads and have never been crazy about it. I have tried braising it and that’s ok. But I really wanted to find a way to use my leftover bok choy that would be tasty and exciting. And I finally did! Sweet potato-bok choy soup….

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Filed Under: Dinner, Slow Cooker Tagged With: bok choy, food waste, soup, sweet potato

Slow Cooker Butternut Squash-Sage Soup

December 3, 2013 By Jessica Braider 1 Comment

Slow Cooker Butternut Squash-Sage Soup

This week I have been having trouble getting back into the swing of things after Thanksgiving. I just sort of feel like I am moving through molasses. And one of the things I haven’t been so excited about doing is cooking- which is quite a rare thing for me. But dinner still needs to get on the table and lunches still need to be made (yay for husbands who are in charge of breakfasts!), so in an effort to motivate myself I set up a challenge: can I use up all the leftover herbs before they go bad? You see, in years past I have always struggled with this. Months later I will discover a plastic produce bag pushed back under the carrots that is filled with black, slimy something. It totally grosses me out and makes me feel guilty because I hate wasting food.

So yesterday’s challenge was the leftover sage. I decided to go with a slow-cooker butternut squash soup because that way I wouldn’t have to exert much effort AND I could also use up my remaining veggie stock—added bonus! Turned out to be such a huge hit that there weren’t even enough leftovers for my husband’s lunch. My older kiddo had THREE bowls of it at dinner last night and the little one cleaned his bowl (which is quite an accomplishment for him!).

…

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Filed Under: Dinner, Slow Cooker Tagged With: butternut squash, Easy, healthy, sage, soup

Jessica Braider

Hi! I'm Jessica. I love delicious food that is simple and easy. As a busy mom, I am always on the lookout for ways to make life easier and tastier! Read More…

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