52 Soups

I am always trying to gently get my kids to try new and different foods. I tell them that we are going to be food adventurers. This idea often works pretty well with my kids. They don’t always like what they try, but sometimes they do. And they are more willing to try when it is an adventure than something mommy is making them do.

A friend of mine has just come out with a new book called “No More Beige Food” a humorous picture book about a little girl named Wilma Lee Wu who is tired of the boring food her family makes and goes on a search for more interesting foods to try. I think this will fit in perfectly with our food adventures and I can’t wait to read it to my kids. This recipe for Chinese Egg Drop Soup will soon be appearing in a bonus downloadable e-book that will include recipes for the foods that Wilma Lee Wu tries in “No More Beige Food” as well as some additional recipes like this one. I’ll put up the link as soon as it’s available.

This soup is quick and easy to make and is really delicious too. The broth is flavourful without being too spicy making it great for kids. I made this soup with my daughter and she loved pouring in the eggs.  If your kids are reluctant to eat green onions or mushrooms you can leave them out completely or you could leave them in big pieces so they are easy to pick out. You can also add other things to the soup like tofu, bean sprouts or corn.

My daughter was excited to try the eggs in broth but only if I picked out the green onions and mushrooms. My son didn’t want to try it but I think he might if he’s the one who gets to pour in the eggs.

If there is one thing that will get my kids to try a soup, it’s meatballs. I like using the frozen meatballs from IKEA but you can use any frozen meatballs you like or even make your own (if you are way more enthusiastic than me).  You don’t have to pre-cook them – they can go right on the broth. My kids all liked this soup. In their own way. My 1 year old loved everything although I didn’t give him a lot of the broth for obvious reasons. My 3 year old loved the carrots, meatballs, noodles and broth and my oldest liked the meatballs, noodles and tomatoes but no broth thank you very much.

Even though it felt a little silly at times, it was really nice to have a meal that everyone liked.

I love Frank’s Buffalo Wing sauce so I was really interested to see how that would translate into a soup. I used roasted cauliflower to thicken the broth, but you could also leave it out and have a thinner broth, or thicken it with something else like white beans or potatoes. I left the celery and carrots fairly crunchy, if you want them to be softer than you can just saute them before adding them to the soup.

This soup is part soup and part stew. You are traditionally supposed to eat the broth first and the large pieces last. If you would like something more soup like you can cut up the meat and largest vegetables. I’ve created a much quicker version of a soup that would often be gently boiled for hours.

This was a definite winner at our house. My kids aren’t big soup fans but my daughter loved the chicken, carrots and corn on the cob and my son loved the chicken, potatoes and corn on the cob. My baby is 12 months old and thought the whole thing was wonderful.

I tested this out using skinless bone-in-chicken thighs and butternut squash as well as cut up chicken breasts and sweet potato. I try to like cooking with bone-in-chicken but I am still not a fan, if you do just make sure you skim the fat off the top of the broth. I don’t have ready access to pumpkin but I found both the butternut squash and sweet potato both worked well.