Saving Time in the Kitchen by Making Soups and Smoothies in a blender

Being a new mom, having time to prepare and eat nutritious meals has been a challenge as taking care of Baby E has us always on our toes. A lot of families with new borns just don’t have the energy to cook a full meal for a little while. A lot of my friends with kids rely on other family members cooking for them, getting take out, or making frozen meals.

There are some quick ways to meal prep nutritious meals to get in the vitamins you need for the day. Two of the most common items to make in a Vitamix blender are smoothies and soups. As being a high performance blender, it does an amazing job at making smoothies, hot soups, dips & spreads, as well as frozen desserts.

Here are 2 of our favourite ways to make smoothies and soups much quicker with these short cuts while using a Vitamix blender.

Portion Out Smoothie Ingredients for Quick Blending

Buying fresh produce can go bad quickly if you lose track of what’s in your fridge and when certain items expire. What our family likes to do is to portion out smoothie ingredients into containers and freeze them. You can make the same smoothie for the week or mix and match the items that go into each one.

When it’s time to make a quick smoothie, all you need to do is dump the container of ingredients and pour in your favourite liquids like almond milk.

Kale Ginger Smoothie

Ginger is an ingredient that is known to keep your blood flowing, warm your extremities, and keep away the chills. During postpartum, I had a lot of ginger because with all the blood loss from giving birth, I was cold and pale for the first 2 weeks.

Serves 2

Ingredients:

• 1 Tbsp fresh ginger, skin removed
• 1 1/2 cups chopped frozen mango
• 1 small ripe frozen banana
• 1 large handful spinach
• 1 small handful kale
• 1/2 medium lime, juiced
• 1/3 cup light coconut milk
• 2/3 cup unsweetened plain almond milk
• 1 Tbsp raw hulled hemp seeds (optional)

Instructions:

1. In a container, freeze ginger, mango, banana, spinach, and kale ahead of time.
2. Add almond milk, lime juice, light coconut milk, and the ingredients in the frozen container into a high powered blender.
3. Blend for 1 – 2 minutes on high to get it all blended nice and smoothly.
4. Pour smoothie into a cup and top with hemp seeds.
5. Enjoy.

Prepare Soup in a Blender and Freeze leftovers for the Future

Nausea doesn’t just happen in your first trimester, it can happen postpartum as well when all your hormones are trying to settle back to normal but new mom’s bodies go through quite a bit of change hormonally to adjust to life without a baby inside their belly.

If it’s yourself making the soup or someone else, it is a lifesaver to have some frozen in the fridge for a quick meal as it can last 4 to 6 months. You just need to defrost and heat it up. Also, to cut down on dishes, you can make the soup in a blender. The friction of the Vitamix blades can make steaming-hot soup in under 10 minutes, right in the container with less mess.

Creamy Brussel Sprout Soup with Bacon

Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

• 8 slices of thick cut bacon
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 300g Brussel sprouts, halved
• 1 large potato, peel and cut into cubes
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• 2 thyme twigs
• 4 cups of chicken broth
• Salt and Pepper

Instructions:

1. Cook bacon in a frying pan or oven until crisp. Follow instruction on the package. Let cool and cut into bite-sized pieces, then set aside.
2. Add onion, Brussel sprouts, potatoes, garlic, thyme, salt and pepper into a pot on medium high heat to cook until veggies soften.
3. In a blender, add the cooked veggies, 2 tablespoons of fat from bacon, and chicken broth. Blend the soup on high for 10 minutes until the soup is smooth and piping hot.
4. Serve and top it with bacon bits and Brussel Sprout leaves.

Tips for Freezing Soup

• Let soup cool before freezing. To speed up the process, you can put it in an ice bath.
• Don’t full up containers to the top. Leave 1 inch to give the soup room to expand and limit contact with the air, which may cause freezer burn.

There you have it, 2 quick items to make in a Vitamix blender to make a quick smoothie and soup for new mothers who are already super busy taking care of a newborn. Any time saved can be used to tend to boding with the newborn baby.

We were gifted a Vitamix Ascent A3500 for use in creating this blog post, but all opinions are our own.