“Isaac, what’s my favorite food?” I asked just to see what he’d say. He paused for a minute, then answered, “soup!” like it was the most obvious thing in the world. I am always making soup. My kids don’t eat it, but I don’t get tired of soup leftovers the way I do with other leftovers that get left in the fridge to grow fuzzy.
And immersion blenders (thanks Mom!) make the art of soup almost into a meditation. Just when it seems like the soup will never surrender its lumps, there’s a buzz and a grind, and it all runs smooth. So satisfying. Both kids like to help with the immersion blender. No surprise.
Also, if I have trouble getting through my farm box, I can throw all the extra produce into the slow cooker with chicken broth and butter and blend it up into a tasty soup.
Tasty soups of recent history include: Sriracha Sweet Potato Soup (three apples, two sweet potatoes, an onion cooked and blended, with corn kernels and shredded chicken thighs, topped with Mexican cheese and several swirls of Sriracha), and Cream of Mushroom Soup (onion and mushroom stalk broth, a purée of one onion sautéed with sliced mushroom caps for 15 minutes, add a quarter cup wheat flour, deglaze with a cup of white wine, add broth and thyme and simmer indefinitely, then stir in two cups of half n half at the end, plus salt and pepper and a half cup of parsley). YUM YUM YUM.
Tomorrow I am making Farm Box Stew! From a recipe! We got our last Farm Table box of the season Thursday. The kids love unloading the box each week, washing potatoes and gnawing apples that reflect gold in their eyes.
Recently we traded toys for this toy kitchen. Eloise pushes her shopping cart of plush produce into the real kitchen to help me stir the real soup on the stove. I’m pretty sure a toy kitchen was one of those “I will never own one of those junky things” toys. Haaaaaaaa. Eloise also cuts Velcro fruit like a boss. Should I be worried she’s so good with a knife…?