I’ve gotten into the habit of preparing easy-to-reheat-or-assemble foods in advance to make the week a little easier. Since I only have to worry about pleasing myself at dinnertime, this leads to a lot of soup, salad and sandwiches. Once in a while, though, you want to feel like you’ve been fussed over a little. That’s exactly why, using this recipe and a package of grocery-store soup greens, I made a white bean cassoulet this week.

Ingredients:

  • 1/4 c olive oil
  • 10 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 medium white onion, diced
  • 2 carrots, peeled and diced
  • 3 stalks celery, diced
  • 1 hunk butternut squash, peeled and diced
  • 1 small red potato, peeled and diced
  • 1 dried bay leaf
  • 3 cups prepared white beans
  • 2 quarts liquid (I used had veggie broth and half water)
  • salt

Directions:

  1. Heat olive oil in a large stock pot. Sauté vegetables until tender.
  2. Add remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer 45 minutes- 1 hour or so. Remove the bay leaf.
  3. Serve immediately with fancy crostini (aka toast with hummus in my case) or pour into single-serving containers and freeze.

Do you have any favorite make-ahead recipes?