Good Thing I'm Not a Professional

It's a good thing I'm not trying to make money blogging. :) My blogging frequency is lousy. As other food bloggers I read have written, we just haven't been doing much interesting with food lately. And the kids have not been enthusiastic eaters - of anything! I don't just mean my cooking, but even of "classics." For example, what child rejects applesauce? Yeah, one of mine.

That said, we have had a few successes in the past few weeks. Fall is in full swing, and the weather is hinting at winter. We had our first hard frost this week. The weather has me in a bread baking and soup mood. Soup is tricky with young kids, mostly because of the mess in our house but also because of the unknown factor. That is, they can't tell what the soup is other than a colored liquid. Soup is a great way to get vegetables into your kids though, if you can convince them to try that first spoonful (and the temperature isn't too hot!)

I've shared recipes for two of our "classic" soups before here. Since then, I've added 2 new soups to the repertoire, both courtesy of Weight Watchers!

Tuscan Pumpkin-White Bean Soup
I just wrote about this one, but I tried it with chick peas (garbanzo) in place of white beans after dear husband Aaron used the last of our white beans for a great chili. You REALLY need to try this soup with whatever white or garbanzo bean you have.

Zero-Point Garden Vegetable Soup
From Weight Watchers
Serves 12

Ingredients:
2 medium garlic cloves, minced (I didn't measure)

1 medium onion, diced (probably used a larger onion)

2 medium carrots, diced (used baby carrots or skipped)

1 medium sweet red pepper, diced (might have had a green pepper instead)

1 medium stalk celery, diced (I skipped this)

2 small zucchini, diced

2 c green cabbage, shredded (I had red)

2 c Swiss chard, chopped

2 c cauliflower, small florets (I skipped this, but I bet this would make the soup creamier.)

2 c broccoli, small florets (can't remember if we had broccoli)

2 tsp thyme, fresh, chopped (mine is dried)

6 c vegetable broth

2 Tbsp parsley, or chives, fresh, chopped (mine is dried)

1/2 tsp table salt, or to taste

1/4 tsp black pepper, or to taste

2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice, optional (pretty sure I skipped)

Instructions:

Put garlic, vegetables, thyme and broth into a large soup pot. Cover and bring to a boil over high heat; reduce heat to low and simmer, partly covered, about 10 minutes.

Stir in parsley or chives; season to taste with salt, pepper and lemon juice. Yields about 1 cup per serving.

Notes:

If you like thick soups, consider pureeing this recipe in the pot with an immersion blender. I blended it because my kids are picking things out of their foods these days. There are so many variations on this recipe. Add or leave out vegetables to suit your taste.

Maybe my kids are just unusual, but they seem pretty willing to try soups, and they generally enjoy them. If you give any of these a try, let me know how they are received.