Living on the west coast, the fall brings many things - kids going back to school, leaves falling on the ground and cooler, rainier weather….lots of rainy weather! For anyone who has grown up on the west coast, they understand how nice a warm meal is on the cool, damp days of autumn weather. An easy to make, soothing soup or a warm casserole is what the body needs to refuel and energize.

When my son was a few months old I found the challenge with cooking was time, or the lack thereof. Between nursing every hour or so, changing dirty diapers, laundry and taking care of the pets, family meals took a back seat. The old adage of sleep when the baby sleeps is not conducive to the gourmet meals I had envisioned cooking with my time off when the baby was born.

With my son now 9 months old, preparing meals for my family is easier than when he was younger. So I no longer nurse every hour and my son sleeps through the night and I do not require the daytime naps that I used to.  But my son is crawling, climbing and getting into everything, requiring a lot of my attention to ensure that he does not fall or eat the dirt in the plants. And the pets still need to be taken care of, the floors vacuumed, and the laundry folded. This is when I turn to my collection of easy to prepare or batch recipes.

Every once in a while I will ask my mom to come over and watch my son while I prepare a large batch serving of a favourite recipe. My mom looks after my son while I get the chance to create some meals for the future. I package all my meals in single serving sizes in tin foil containers that I buy from the local dollar store.

The Orzo Tomato Soup recipe that I have shared here is a quick to prepare meal. It can be made at any time of the day and left to be reheated when required. The Turkey Tetrazzini is a great recipe that can be made for eating the same day or in a large batch and portioned for freezing and reheating on another day. Both recipes take little effort on the part of the cook but will be a great addition to your families cooking repertoire.

One last hint, to make the Turkey Tetrazzini even easier to prepare, buy a roasted chicken from the supermarket and spare the time and effort of cooking the Turkey yourself.

Hope you enjoy and stay warm with these two hearty, healthy options for you and your family.

Got any suggestions or recipes you would like to share, send them to me!

Mompert,

Wendy Thomson (Read Wendy’s Bio here)

Orzo Tomato Soup

½ a large onion, chopped
2 tbsp oil
Salt & pepper, to taste
Chilli flakes, to taste
1 ½ tbsp tomato paste
3 heaping tbsps of tomato pasta sauce (my favourite is Classico Spinach Florentine and Cheese)
12 cups of water
1.5 cups Orzo

1. Add oil to a pan and heat.
2. Saute onions with salt, pepper and chilli flakes.
3. Add tomato paste and pasta sauce.
4. Add water and bring to a boil.
5. Add the orzo and bring to a boil again.
6. Stir frequently until orzo is cooked, about 8-12 minutes.

Turkey Tetrazzini

Appx. 2 cups of Cooked Turkey
1 can of Cream of Mushroom Soup
½ cup of chopped Onion
½ cup of chopped Green Pepper
Apx. 2 cups of grated Cheddar Cheese
Apx. 8 oz. of Spaghetti (broken into 1 inch pieces)
Garlic – to taste

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Saute the onion, garlic and green pepper in the microwave, till
onions are translucent and the green pepper soft.
3. Add the cooked turkey and the cream of mushroom soup. Mix well.
4. Add the broken spaghetti and the grated cheese. Mix well. You may
want to add a little milk if it looks too thick.
5. Cook in the oven for 35-45 minutes at 350 degrees.