September 16, 2013

Lunch Box Challenge Day 16: There’s Vegetables in My Soup!

September 16, 2013

My kids are too funny, I have learned to not say certain ingredients in meals because if they hear that it’s in there they suddenly say they hate it. My kids do like trying new foods, don’t get me wrong but there are those that are picky when it comes to certain items, take tomatoes. One of my kids hates them yet she eats spaghetti sauce, pizza, dips cheese sticks into thick tomato sauce. You name it if she doesn’t know it’s in the food she’ll eat it, someone points it out it’s
 “Don’t make me eat it!”

Yeah , sorry kid I know you like it, it’s the same sauce I made pizza with. Ha, crazy kids I’m telling you. This is Vegetable Soup-  hearty, warming and yeah kids it’s loaded with vegetables!

First off let me tell you that you need to do this the day before obviously, but the idea is to use up soups for lunches. All that hard work why not give the kids something warm and filling during the day? You can do this in the slow cooker or the stove top whichever you have time for, also make sure all vegetables are cubed up small makes it easy for school lunches.

Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion chopped
5 garlic cloves minced
2 large carrots slice thinly
2 medium squashes cubed
2 medium zucchini cubed
1/2 pound green beans cut to small pieces
2 pounds tomatoes chopped
5 cups vegetable stock * or homemade
1 pound potatoes peeled and chopped
2 cups fresh corn
3/4 teaspoon dried marjoram
1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
1/2 teaspoon fresh basil
Directions
Add oil into a large 5 quart pot over medium heat. Heat and then add onions and garlic till soft. Add everything else in, heat as you mix it up then add the stock. Bring mixture to a boil then reduce heat to low. Cover and simmer until all vegetables are tender. It will be about 40 minutes. Slow cooker directions- Throw it into the slow cooker and press start to whatever time you got, low it will be about 6 hours, medium about 4 hours and high 2-3 hours. Depends on your cooker directions.

Easy there’s no excuse to not make it. Add in your own vegetables , whatever is left over and soup it up!

*Serve this in a thermos to keep warm 

I served this with cut  Gluten Free bread “sticks” some of my kids like to break the bread up within the soup. You can also use crackers, and since this is more hearty my kids normally come home with their side of fruit so I kept it simple with applesauce.

Today’s Lunch Box Tip: Have you noticed the amount of Vegetables I’m including in each lunch? Not just for sides but in the main part of the lunch itself? That’s because now is the time to get the kids interested in eating vegetables. If you don’t start them now chances are they will grow up passing on every vegetable there is as an adult. Work those vegetables into every lunch whether into the sandwich, or soup or whichever. It’s as easy as slipping slices of lettuce between ham and slapping it between bread. If dip is the only way they will eat it, it’s better than nothing. Get those kids to eat more vegetables!

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