Very Veggie Soup

This nutritious soup features veggies galore! Serve it up with crackers, croutons or a loaf of bread to round out the meal. This recipe comes to us from Jory of the blog teeny tiny foodie.

Serves 4.

Cooking Tip of the Week: By chopping all of your vegetables to about the same size, they’ll cook more evenly (and be easier for tiny mouths to eat!)

Food for Thought: How long to cook vegetables depends on their density. What’s density? It’s a word that describes how hard or soft something is. Raw carrots are hard (kind of like bricks!) so they need to be cooked for awhile to allow the heat to get all the way to the middle. But vegetables like tomatoes are soft (like pillows!) and only need to cook for a few minutes.

Family Dinner Conversation Starter: Why do we do things in order, like put our socks on before our shoes? Is growing up something you have to do in order? Why?

Ingredients:

• 1 medium yellow or white onion, diced
• 1-2 cloves garlic, smashed and peeled
• 6 cherry tomatoes or 1 large tomato, diced
• 3-4 carrots, peeled and diced
• 1/2 head of cauliflower, diced
• 1 1/2 cups raw kale, finely chopped
• 4 cups vegetable stock, store bought or homemade
• A few teaspoons of olive oil
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Croutons or crackers, if desired

Directions:

Together: Prep ingredients. Kids can tear the kale and cauliflower with their hands and help smash the garlic.

Adult: In a large, lidded pot heat the olive oil over medium heat.

Together: Add the garlic and onions and a pinch of salt. Stir and let cook for around 4 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Together: Next, add the carrots, another pinch of salt and cook for 4 more minutes, stirring occasionally.

Together: Add the cauliflower, and another pinch of salt. Cook for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Kid:  With adult supervision, add the kale, a pinch of salt and stir. Let the vegetables cook for 3-4, minutes stirring occasionally.

Together: Pour in the vegetable broth and stir everything together. Cover the pot and turn up the heat so the liquid comes to a boil. Boil for 3 minutes.

Together: Reduce the heat to low and allow the soup to simmer, covered, for 20 minutes. Uncover the soup and stir in the tomatoes. Cook the soup for 2 minutes, turn off the heat and add black pepper as desired.

Together: Stir the soup together and taste. Adjust seasoning as desired and allow the soup to cool for a few minutes before enjoying.