Hiding vegetables in soup

 

For a few weeks after we found out that Anni was pregnant, nothing changed. I mean, of course, everything was different, but everything was also the same. And because life just went on I couldn’t get my head round the fact that by autumn I’d become a father.

 

I kept looking up how big the life growing inside her was, continually surprised at how this microscopic collection of cells was set to take charge and change everything.

 

In terms of food nothing also changed for a few weeks. Anni carried on in her usual calm way whilst I began to freak out and inspect the sell-by dates of every bit of food we had, turn our steaks into pieces of rubber and boil our eggs for 7 hours minimum.

 

After doing a bit of research into what women can and can’t eat during pregnancy we both discovered that pretty much all advice was contradictory, and the vast majority of foods recommended to avoid were based on guesswork, not fact. Just don’t eat raw food, don’t have too much mercury-rich fish and don’t give yourself salmonella.

 

Anni and I had a combined age of 68 and a combined salmonella contraction rate of zero, so I thought that we were going to be ok.

 

Instead, I chose to focus on all of the great food she could eat, and how each ingredient can be of benefit not only to her but to our unborn child. I’ll admit, now that my principal role in child creation was sadly over (and boy was it over) I was feeling pretty redundant. At least by taking charge of what we would eat over the coming year, I could feel like I was involved, and it was one less thing for Anni to worry about.

However, a few weeks into pregnancy, everything changed.

 

Anni began to find the thought of vegetables pretty unappealing and if I didn’t make food for her that was

basically beige in appearance, she would have none of it. She also began to crave salt so I had to act fast before she started eying up the salt pot at 11am each day.

 

My challenge, therefore, was to make appetizing dishes that I knew she would eat in those first few weeks, but also provide enough of the good stuff for our growing baby.

 

So I started to hide vegetables in food. I started to do this a lot. Soup was my number one way of hiding vegetables for Anni in her first trimester. It was the middle of winter, nights were cold and dark and so a warming bowl of goodness and some cheese on toast went down really well.

 

I made a lot of soup in those first few weeks, they are so easy to make, require minimal preparation, are a great way of using up lots of vegetables and also freeze really well. This particular dish is packed with broccoli which due to its high folate, fibre and vitamin content, is a fantastic pregnancy superfood. The parmesan toast also satisfied her salt cravings.

 

 

 

 

Chicken – Protein, vitamin B, zinc

Brioche – Fibre, protein

Parmesan – Protein, calcium, vitamin A

Carrots – Vitamin A, C, potassium, fibre, calcium

Broccoli – Vitamins A, B, C, E, K, folate, potassium, fibre

Rosemary – Vitamin A, B, C, folate

Thyme – Fibre, Vitamin B, C, calcium

Onion/shallots – Fibre, Vitamin B, C, D, K, Zinc, Iron, Folate,

Magnesium, potassium