Social Batch Cooking Sundays

Meal prep and batch cooking made easy – starting with this Cozy Autumn Wild Rice Soup

For many of us, the thought of meal prepping by batch cooking is daunting. So time-consuming and energy-draining, right?

It doesn’t have to be!

Three ways to make it easier on yourself:

1. Remove the pressure and embrace selective willpower

So many of us employ an all-or-nothing approach to success.

I need to batch cook EVERY Sunday or else I fail.

This isn’t the case. Instead, take advantage of the times you ARE feeling motivated—i.e. selective willpower—to prepare you for your worst day, or the days you’re feeling less motivated.

For example, today the plan was to go for a long hike outside, but the rainy windy weather left me feeling like I didn’t want to leave the house. So, we made two pots of a delicious Cozy Autumn Wild Rice Soup (one pot was vegetarian, and we added prawns to the other pot).

2. Recruit a friend

I mentioned WE made soup. My friend Emily and I cooked together, which made it way more fun and social, and way faster. Not only does cooking with a friend who enjoys cooking turn what can be a daunting task into a social afternoon, it also holds you accountable if you make plans with a friend.

3. When need be, take a short cut

For example: The most annoying part of this soup was cutting the raw squash into small pieces. Had I made the soup alone, I might have just purchased the pre-cut butternut squash cubes to save myself 10 minutes of wrestling with a stubborn vegetable that’s hard to cut.

Don’t feel bad about taking a short cut if it supports your goal of healthy eating. Do you think your stomach really cares if YOU chopped the squash by hand, or you paid for a convenient short cut to still eat a healthy whole food? Nope, not one bit. Please don’t judge yourself for taking the easy road if you come out eating a healthy, nutrient-rich meal in the end!

Feeling motivated to get your cook on? Start with this Cozy Autumn Wild Rice Soup. It was delicious!

Cozy Autumn Wild Rice Soup

Ingredients:

• 8 cups vegetable stock (or chicken stock)
• 1.5 cups uncooked wild rice
• 2 cups cremini mushrooms
• 8 garlic cloves
• 5 medium carrots
• 8 celery stocks
• 1 large onion
• 1 medium butternut squash
• 1 medium sweet potato
• 3 Tbsp. butter
• 1 bunch of kale, shredded
• 2 cans coconut milk
• 2 Tbsp. Old Bay seasoning, but if you don’t have that then you can create it by mixing the following seasoning together (that’s what we did)

Homemade Old Bay Seasoning:

• 1/4 tsp. paprika
• 1/8 tsp. salt
• 1/8 tsp. black pepper
• 1/4 tsp. dry mustard
• 1/4 tsp. mace
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. allspice
• 1/4 tsp. ground cloves
• 1/4 tsp. ground ginger
• 1/4 tsp. cardamon

Cooking Instructions

1. Chop all of the vegetables into bite-sized pieces.

2. Heat butter in a large pot over medium to high heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook for 5 minutes until soft and translucent.

3. Add some of the vegetable stock and all of the vegetables and bring to a boil. Once at a boil, add more stock and the wild rice, as well as the Old Bay seasoning mix. Stir well to combine.

4. Reduce to medium to low heat and cook for 45 minutes to an hour, until the rice is soft.

5. In the last 10 minutes, add the coconut milk and kale and mix thoroughly.

6. Add salt and pepper to taste and more seasoning if need be.

Enjoy!