Thursday, April 10, 2008

Pregnancy Soup


By far, the biggest thing for me in this pregnancy has been food. First, I couldn't even look at it or smell it without wanting to die. Mercifully, those many weeks are a blurry, faint memory.

Then came the weeks of eating whatever seemed edible at that moment because I realized an empty stomach was my one way ticket to vomit town. So I spent hours of my nauseous time shuffling around the grocery store looking for something that also didn't make me sick. Some days it was canned peaches. Other days it was Ramen noodles without the sauce. Whatever it was, the next day I couldn't even think about what I ate the day before.

Then I started feeling better(totally better by the 18th week), and I wanted to eat again! Hooray!! Yippee!! "Yes, lets get Indian food!" and Mark couldn't believe his ears! Now it is just the occasional heartburn that comes about for no reason at all.

But what I had never heard of too much about pregnancy was the constipation. Or maybe I just thought it wouldn't ever happen to me because I had never had a problem with that before. Well, I never had heartburn before either, so too bad for me. I am not complaining at all. I am so ecstatic that I don't have 24 hour a day icky nausea anymore! I apologize if this is too much information for you, but if you know me, you know that I don't have a problem with potty talk.

Anyway, I have found the solution to my little preggie problem: Lentil soup. I decided one day to make this soup from a fabulous book I found at the Burbank library book store: Laurel's Kitchen. I have the Laurel's Bread Book, which is also amazing.

The lentil soup is very tasty even for non-pregnant folks, and it is so quick and easy to make. Here is the recipe for the soup, with my adjustments:

Greek Lentil Soup adapted from Laurel's Kitchen:

4 cups vegetable broth
1 cup lentils
1 leek, dark green parts trimmed, and then chopped
1 large or 2 small carrots
2 celery stalks
1 small potato ( I like these ruby gold ones)
a big bunch of kale, chopped
1-2 tablespoons oil ( I like olive oil)
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon sea salt
2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar ( red wine vinegar would also be good, I think)

Mix all ingredients , except the vinegar, in a soup pot and cook until the lentils are very soft, about one hour. Add vinegar at the end and serve.

This make a good amount of soup, but double recipe if you want to freeze some or have a lot of people to feed. So good with nice warm, crusty Italian bread. And it will keep you regular! Yay!

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