We had our first snowfall in Winnipeg in early October and even though I’ve been making soups weekly since September, this snowfall really inspired me to have some solid soup recipes on deck for the winter.
A few weeks ago, I shared my super easy Slow Cooker Italian Sausage and White Bean Soup. It’s a favorite because it’s salty, has a variety of textures and it’s EASY! This Minestrone soup checks all those boxes too!
Meal prep friendly
What makes this soup super easy is that it takes literally five minutes to throw together in the slow cooker, once you have the ingredients prepped. Chop veggies, rinse and drain beans, mix and that’s pretty much it. The finishing touches really make this soup stand out. Add some cooked pasta, pesto and parm to the bowl before serving with a slice of crusty and soft French bread.
Staple ingredients
If you read 55 ingredients to have on hand at all times, you’ll know that canned beans and tomatoes are ingredients I always try to have in the pantry. Pair that with the usual carrots and celery that I take for my lunch every week (and use the scraps for Slow Cooker Vegetable Broth, which is always in my freezer) and a bag of shredded zucchini from the summer harvest, and you don’t even need to get groceries to pull this off.
Hands-off cooking time
With the exception of cooking the pasta to add at the very end, this soup is made in the slow cooker and is ready when I’m home from work, which I appreciate. You know that feeling, when you get out of work, then you have to brush the snow off of your car and it’s cold and people are terrible drivers because it’s icy and you’re tired from a long day? Coming home to this soup makes you feel a bit better about the day.
Other delicious brothy soups
On the topic of hands-off cooking time, I find that brothy soups tend to work better in the slow cooker. Some other favorites that we have over and over are Chicken Tortilla (coming soon!), Sausage and White Bean and Green Turkey Chili.
Creamy soups worth spending some time on
When I have time for some hands-on cooking, I make these soups that I found on Pinterest quite often. I know I’m not typically a recipe follower but this Mushroom Soup from Season with Spice is seriously the best I’ve ever tried. This Broccoli Cheese Soup from Averie Cooks is also one of our favorites. I also adapted this Roasted Cauliflower Soup by Closet Cooking and swapped the cheddar for some local Bothwell Smoked Gouda. It’s to die for with some homemade garlic croutons in it! If you’re not willing to invest some time preparing one of these delicious creamy soups, this Minestrone will defintely hit the spot.
This soup is easy on so many levels. Simple ingredients, meal prep friendly, make-ahead, slow cooker, freezer friendly. What more do you need?
Fall has arrived and that makes it easy to justify making soup every week. I usually stick with a slow cooker soup, so that it cooks all day and is ready to eat when we get home. No effort required. With the exception of cooking up some egg noodles before serving, this soup is meal prep friendly, make-ahead and a real time saver if you don’t have a lot of hands-on time to cook dinner.
Meal Prep Friendly
The best advantage to this soup is that it’s meal prep friendly. If you have all your prep done, it will literally take you 5 minutes to throw together in the slow cooker before heading to work in the morning. Even better, if you have room in your fridge, throw it all together the night before you need it, and put in on to cook before you leave in the morning.
Here is a list of all the prep you could do ahead of time, if you choose.
Cook italian sausage (I also like to cook up a whole bunch at once, and freeze them, so if you do too, you can toss it directly in the slow cooker frozen.)
Rinse and drain beans.
Chop carrots, celery, onion, garlic.
Prep Shortcuts
I know not everyone makes their own broth like I do (but seriously, once you try it, you’ll never go back!) So a few time-saving shortcuts are to use store-bought broth and pre-cut julienned carrots to save a little prep time.
Set it and Forget it
Once you’ve got it going in the slow cooker, the only thing you have left to do is to cook up some broad egg noodles to add to each bowl before serving. If you don’t have egg noodles, you can use any pasta you want. I like to freeze the leftovers, so that’s why I add the noodles just before serving. Leaving the pasta in the soup when freezing will soak up all the broth and it will just be gross. So don’t do it.
Garnish and serve
I love topping it with a sprinkle of parm but it really is just fine without it. Serve with crusty bread and you’ve got a full meal. I really wish this post was longer, but it’s really that simple, that there’s no need!
Can I tell you secret? I don’t usually meal plan in the summer. We really like to relax and just go with the flow in the summer, so getting back into a routine for back-to-school is an adjustment, for sure. If you’ve been following on my Instagram stories, I’ve been posting some of my favorite meal planning and prepping tips pretty regularly. Those tips will certainly help you get through the first few weeks back-to-school, as kids and adults adjust to a new routine, but this post will help with a few major school-related obstacles:
Quick and easy breakfasts
Lunch shortcuts
Fast suppers
Before I dive in to some ideas to help your back-to-school planning and prep go smoothly, keep in mind, that the important part of all of this, is to plan and prep in advance. It doesn’t matter which foods you are preparing. Prepare foods that your family eats and enjoys, but do as much planning and prep as you can when you have time, so that they’re ready to go on those days that you don’t have time.
Plan quick and easy breakfasts to get you out the door
We’re a yogurt, cereal and fruit for breakfast kind of family, so that usually whips up pretty quickly in the morning. Sometimes, the kids like to have pancakes so I made a double batch of protein pancakes from The School Year Survival Cookbook and froze them on sheet pans individually, before bagging them and storing them in the freezer. Thirty seconds in the microwave and you’ve got a hot, ready to eat pancake. I also like to have eggs once in a while, so hard-boiled eggs are a quick option for busy mornings. Other time-saving ideas: chia pudding, smoothie packs, breakfast burritos, overnight oats, and baked oatmeal cups (basically a baked oatmeal muffin, also from School Year Survival)
Breakfast meal prep to-do list ideas:
Make hard-boiled eggs for the week
Make and freeze pancakes
Pre-measure smoothie ingredients and store in the freezer
Make mason jar chia puddings or overnight oats for the week
Bake a batch of oatmeal cups
Make and freeze a batch of breakfast burritos
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The School Year Survival Cookbook
I will probably reference The School Year Survival Cookbook a few times, because it is the only cookbook that I use regularly. This is not an ad for said cookbook, but if you’re looking for some great shortcuts and healthy recipes for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks, it’s one to look into.
Plan for lunch shortcuts
Making lunches is one of the tasks I dread the most! We keep it simple by trying to take leftovers, taking salads, soups from the freezer and fresh veggies and fruits.
Freeze leftovers
Everytime we have a soup or chili, the leftovers go directly into the freezer, and we grab those for lunches when we don’t have leftovers from the night before. Salads and dressings are easy to make-ahead and portion and also work out great for busy lunch hours when I don’t have time to run to the microwave.
Double the recipe and freeze
My all-time favorite lunch hack is freezing hummus. Use an ice cube tray (silicone ones work best for this popping out the frozen cubes), freeze a batch or two of hummus, then place the cubes in a bag. Take as many cubes as you need for your lunch, and that’s it! I like this because you don’t have to take hummus every single day of the week before the batch spoils. It’s also not as messy to portion out, once it’s already frozen.
Make and freeze muffins, cookies and snacks when you have the chance
Lunchtime snacks for us usually consist of a homemade baked good of some kind: cookies, muffins, energy bites. I had a personal goal last year to make zero-waste lunches, therefore I avoid packaged snacks. All of my favorite go-to recipes are on my Tried and True Pinterest board. You can follow it here.
Tip: Do your baking while you`re eating dinner. It only takes 20 minutes to bake a batch of muffins, so by the time you’re finished eating, you can take it out of the oven, and do the dishes with your meal time dishes.
Lunch meal prep to-do list ideas:
Make a big quinoa, pasta or green salad to take for the week and portion it.
Make a few different salad dressings to add variety to your everyday salad
Lunch bowls are a combination of greens, grains, soft veggies, crunchy veggies, dressing or sauce and a crunchy topping.
Plan fast suppers for when you have to head out to activities
My BFF texted me earlier this week asking for quick meal ideas because she only has 20 minutes at home, before she has to head out to activities with her kids. Whenever I’m planning meals for hectic days, I consider the following:
Can I get it on the table in less than 20 minutes? (With or without interruptions)
Is it no-cook or pre-cook?
Is it hands-off cooking?
What is hands-off cooking?
Hands-off cooking is any cooking or preparation technique that allows you to be hands-free to do something else. Your Instant Pot, slow-cooker, rice cooker, and oven are all helpful tools for freeing up your hands at dinner time. This is particularly useful if you need to gather equipment or help small kids get changed for their next activity. Some hands-off meals that we eat are sheet pan dinners or baked pastas like manicotti or mac and cheese. Keep in mind, these usually take at least 20-30 minutes to cook, so they’re better for when you have a bit more time at home between activities.
No-cook or pre-cook suppers
Again, as I mentioned before, planning and prepping in advance is the key to getting you through the “I don’t have time right now” obstacle. My go-to meals for ultra busy evenings are big salads and slow-cooker soups/sauces.
Big salads
Chicken caesar, taco, greek salad with chicken can all be made and even portioned ahead of time, so you can grab it from the fridge, dress it, and eat. Big salads are also great for eating on the go, if you have to eat while watching your kids’ sporting event, have the kids eat in the car while you’re driving (my partner is cringing right now because he hates when I let the kids eat in the car) and then you can eat while you’re spectating. Or of course, eat at home if you have the time.
Slow-cooker soups
I’m not a huge fan of using the slow-cooker for meals like stir-frys, meat and vegetables because I feel like it always ends up being mushy and watery. Unless you’re monitoring when you’re adding certain veggies so they stay tender-crisp, for example, you’re going to have a mushy meal. Also, having to tend to the slow cooker is not hands-off cooking and is not set it and forget, so those are a no-go for me. Meals we love in the slow cooker are Chicken Tortilla Soup, Green Turkey Chili, Sausage and white bean soup, spaghetti sauce. We have a large slow cooker for doing a big soup, and small once for heating up enough sauce for our family.
This Green Turkey Chili is simple to assemble and cooks in your slow-cooker all day while you’re at work.
Low-cook suppers
Low-cook suppers are basically supper that you simply have to heat-up before eating. Yes, this could mean leftovers, but it doesn’t have to. Tacos and burrito bowls are the easiest to whip up quickly. All you have to do is heat up pre-cooked meat or rice, take your toppings out of the fridge and you`re ready to roll. You can even have homemade fresh salsa like these pineapple or tomatillo salsa, if you have some time to make them before your busy week starts.
Homemade pineapple salsa seems like it would be complicated, but you can eat this on busy nights if you take a few minutes to make it the day before.
Supper meal prep to-do list ideas:
Pre-make salads and portion for on-the-go nights
Pre-cook taco meat and chop fixings for an easy low-cook meal
Make a slow-cooker soup for hands-off meal that is ready when you get home
Pre-cook rice for fast burrito bowls or fried rice
Chop ingredients for a sheet pan dinner
Make a mac and cheese or pasta bake and toss it in the oven when you get home
