My Current Favorite Kitchen Tool

Theresa has been on solid food for several months now.  She LOVES to eat, and hasn't turned down a thing I've offered her.  In fact, I'll go so far as to brag that Theresa is my best eater yet (don't tell Rebecca! ;-).  We even put her in the tomato costume I made for Rebecca 9 years ago for Halloween. 

Isn't she PRECIOUS? 

Nowadays, I will throw random, frozen cubes of pureed food in a bowl for her, zap it in the microwave, and that's it..lunch or dinner is ready.  I've combined carrot with mango, strawberries with lentils, and peas with peaches.  Whatever I come up with, Theresa has eaten it all.  She's not crazy about solid food for breakfast, but admittedly, it may be because we don't have much time in the mornings.  I have to get the older girls ready and out the door by 7:30 to catch the bus, and then get Joshua and Gabriel off to school by 8:30.  There's not much time for a little one to eat, although I try to give her a few bites of toast or yogurt off of my plate.  She is pretty apt at picking up cheerios too, and other small bits of food, so that helps if I'm trying to get her dinner ready and she's hungry, but her portion is still in progress.

Lately, now that the weather has cooled off, I've made 2 batches of soup over the past 3 weeks.   I love to stir a big pot of comfort when it's nippy outside, plus I was hoping Theresa was ready for a puree with more texture and tiny chunks of veggies. 

So I made Broccoli Cheese Soup about 2 weeks ago, and last night I made Potato Chowder.  The broccoli cheese soup is already pureed, so I didn't have to process it further for Theresa.  She LOVED it.  I gave her a bowl for lunch/dinner for 3 days straight, and she inhaled it every time.  Who says babies don't like broccoli? :-)  The chowder can be left chunky, but the potatos and sausage were too chunky for my girl, so I broke out my immersion blender and blended the soup to a consistency that was better for Theresa.  Guess what, she loved it too!

I have to give my immersion blender a shout-out.  I've been using it several times a week to process whatever we're having for dinner so Theresa can eat it too.  It's perfect because doesn't take up as much room as a standing blender or food processor, it's easy to clean, and it doesn't make a big mess at all.  In fact, I pureed the potato chowder in the same container I used to store it in the fridge.  See?

Obviously the best reason to have an immersion blender handy is whenever you're making a soup that needs to be pureed.  Besides the Broccoli Cheese Soup and the Potato Chowder, I also use it for my Roasted Tomato Soup and Black Bean Soup.  Just stick it right in your soup pot, and blend away.  No pouring hot soup back and forth from a blender to the pot, and less dishes to wash at the end of the night.  I'm telling y'all...this handy tool could be your best friend, especially if you have a baby who loves soup. ;-)  And it works for other things too, like homemade salsa, whipped cream, and smoothies (although it doesn't like ice...too hard). 

Don't have one of these gadgets?  Christmas is right around the corner ladies.  Get it on your wish list...mine is about 6 years old, and isn't made anymore. 

But here's a whole slew of immersion blenders on amazon.com.  A decent quality one will only set you back about $50 (or less!).  Your husbands can thank me later for making their Christmas shopping so easy..lol!

I'm sorry I haven't posted a new recipe lately.  I'm been pretty busy, and up to my eyeballs in a 3,000 envelope mailout for my hubby's work.  Yes...3,000.  I have to have 1,500 done by the end of next week...I have 1,050 done so far.  So um...yeah...it's taking nearly every spare minute I have.  Someone remind me not to volunteer to do this mailout next year, okay?  Thanks!

I'll try to check back in sometime next week, and post something new and fun for y'all to make.  In the meantime, God bless your table tonight!