Waste Not Want Not Soup: A Recipe

Anyone who has been reading my blog lately will know that we're making every possible attempt to eat well for cheap. Today, not being in the mood to really cook lunch from scratch, I was still able to decrease possible waste and feed the family.

See, early in my son's life, we were given a steamer/blender contraption called the Babycook. It's very expensive, but remarkably handy for making fresh baby food. The mistake here is that he developed a taste for quality, fresh ingredients from the time he could wield a spoon. Sure, some may see that as a good thing, but you just try to feed a kid like that a jar of strained peas in a pinch. Nothing doing. So, now that he's been off a puréed foods for a long while, I was waiting for a foodless baby to drop by so that we could pawn the leftover jars off on him. No such luck. It seems that parents come prepared with their very own jar of tasteless muck to shovel into their kids' mouths.

Rather than waste those suckers (who were nearing their expiration dates), I came up with a little soup. Not all that bad, really. Here's the recipe for those of you rich in jars of baby food but poor in tasteless babies. You no longer have to let them go to waste (the food, not the babies).

1 jar strained carrots (or whatever you happen to have on hand)
1 baby meal with chunks (chicken and rice, for example)
1 vegetable or chicken bouillon cube
enough water to obtain desired consistency
plain yogurt or sour cream
If you're really feeling crazy add some spices like curry.

Mix the chosen baby foods together with some water in a small pot. Add bouillon cube. Heat to boiling. Add yogurt or sour cream and stir. Serve with chunks of day old bread you were thinking of giving to the chickens.

I swear they actually ate it. For adults, this is best served really hot (burn the ole taste buds to render them inefficient??). Really, it's not that bad with the bouillon to flavor it. The best part was watching my dear hubbie try to identify the ingredients. He never would have guessed baby food!