Carrot Soup

Two weeks ago, I did something amazing. I made carrot soup from scratch and without a recipe. That's right, I made it up right there on the spot. But wait, that is not even the amazing part yet. I did all of this with my 4-week-old son strapped to the front of me. Amazing, right?

Oh, I'm sorry, have I not mentioned that yet? Oh yeah, I had a kid.

Maybe I should back up a little bit. So roughly 9 months and 6 weeks ago I got pregnant. Overall, I had a fairly easy pregnancy with a few of the typical symptoms that come along with growing another human in your body scattered throughout. For me, the first trimester was really not all that bad in retrospect. Yes, there were days when I felt a little woozy and had a bit of a sour stomach but thankfully that wooziness never turned into full-fledged vomiting. But, what it did mean was that food and I had a very interesting relationship during those first few months. I don't know if I would say that I craved any foods but I did know what I DID NOT want. Garlic was first on that list.

This is an ingredient that is usually in nearly everything I cook but even the mere thought of it made me feel ill. But more than not wanting specific items, I did not want anything that required too much work to eat. Essentially, I didn't want to chew. This meant I ate a lot of hummus and cream cheese. One morning I remember that someone brought bagels and cream cheese to work and as I took a bite of my first one I had already forgiven myself for the second bagel that I was inevitably going to be making upon finishing the first. (Pregnancy makes you really hungry, or at least gives you an excuse to eat as much as you want.) Because of these new food issues, dinner consisted mainly of whatever mama wanted that day. I remember calling my husband one evening on my way home from work. I told him that all day I had been thinking about making white rice in the rice cooker and instead of water, I wanted to make it with chicken broth and when it was done I wanted to put butter and salt on it. He chuckled and said, "That's funny." So what are we having for dinner?"

"Um, did you hear what I said? You can have whatever you want, but I am having white rice, made with chicken broth and when it is done I am going to put butter and salt on it."

I don't remember what he ended up making for dinner that night, but I sure as hell know what I had.

The second trimester was basically "everything goes." I was no longer opposed to chewing, and aside from wanting to eat all the things I could not have due to safety concerns for the baby, (e.g. sushi, blue cheese and lunch meat) food and I were friends again. The best of friends, really. And often times it seemed that food was less about enjoyment and more about how fast I could shove something with nutritional value into the hole in the center of my face.

In my third trimester, I got hit with a food craving the size of a train. A giant, dairy-filled train. For whatever reason, I needed milk to be accessible to me at all times. I could drink it by the gallon. I have always enjoyed milk but I was not really my beverage of choice. This was more than just an enjoyment of milk: this was an extreme need for it. I feel like I can now relate to how that smoker must feel in the morning before their first cigarette. My "cigarette" just happened to be a tall, cold, glass of A & D fortified goodness.

I don't know if it was the milk or just my luck but I did something right because at 5 days overdue I gave birth to a 9 lbs 3 oz baby boy who we named Charlie with NO EPIDURAL. And no, I am not one of those women who thinks they are superior to any woman to uses pain medication during child birth because believe me, child birth hurts. A LOT. But I am one of those women who thinks she has now earned the right to use all caps when the words "no" and "epidural" appear in order and I am referencing birth of my son. Did I mention his head was 14 3/4 inches in circumference? Because it was. So like I said, NO EPIDURAL!!!

Anyway, where was I? Right, soup! After you have a baby, people love to bring you food. This is a fabulous benefit to having a baby because the last thing you will be doing is cooking with a newborn in the mix. It was a good day when I remembered to put on deodorant, let alone make a meal. But the foodie in me was dying to cook again and was just not satisfied by reheating things in the microwave, as appreciated as the meals were. So a few weeks ago, I strapped my son to me in the Moby wrap and I decided to make soup. I made it up on the fly so here is my best guess at what I did:

7-9 medium carrots, peeled and diced
1 medium onion, diced
3-4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 large can of chicken broth (more maybe needed depending on how you like the consistency of your soup)
1 tsp of grated, fresh ginger (more or less to taste)
zest of half an orange
salt and pepper to taste

Saute the diced onion and garlic for a few minutes until the onions become translucent and tender. Add the carrots and continue to cook for a few minutes more. Add the chicken broth, ginger and zest and bring to a boil. Once the soup is boiling reduce the heat to a simmer and cook until the carrots are fork tender. Ladle the soup in parts into a food processor or blender and process until smooth. This is when you may need to add more broth if the soup is too thick. You could also add water, or even cream for a richer soup.

As far as I know, Charlie liked the soup. While I was preparing it I was thinking about how much fun it will be for me to cook for Charlie when he can actually eat the food as opposed to getting the milk version of it a few hours later. I really do hope me son is not a picky eater and will enjoy this carrot soup and many of my other creations someday. And if he doesn't like something or tries to give me grief, I will just have to gently remind him that I gave birth to him with NO EPIDURAL!!!