Alphabet Soup

Trying to serve a vegetarian meal to my carnivorous family is no easy task, but every once in a while I can get away with it. And the best chance I have of getting away with it is to serve soup.

This fantastic recipe from the Post Punk Kitchen made my kids squeal with delight! They loved digging around their bowls for their favorite letters. "L" for Libby. "J" and "D" for JD (duh!). My baby Caroline was an equal-opportunity-letter-eater. ;)

And in between all those letters, they also ate their veggies. I was one happy mama!

Alphabet Soup
Source: Slightly adapted from Post Punk Kitchen

2 tsp. olive oil
1 small onion, diced small
2 stalks celery, tops removed, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup baby carrots, in ½-inch slices
¾ lb. potatoes, peeled then diced into ½-inch pieces
1 tsp. dried thyme
¼ tsp. dried tarragon
6 cups MSPI-friendly vegetable broth
½ tsp. salt
1 cup alphabet-shaped or other small pasta
1 tsp. sugar
16 oz. tomato sauce
1 cup frozen peas

Preheat a 4-quart soup pot over medium heat. Saute onion and celery in the oil with a pinch of salt until soft. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, 30 seconds or so.

Add carrots, potatoes, thyme, tarragon, vegetable broth and salt. Cover and bring to a boil. Once boiling, lower heat to a simmer, add pasta and cook until pasta and vegetables are soft, about 10 more minutes.

Add sugar, tomato sauce and frozen peas and heat through (5 minutes or so.) Remove from heat. It tastes better the longer you let it sit, but give it at least 10 minutes. Taste for salt and seasoning, and serve.

Tip: This soup is a great way to use up the odds and ends of frozen vegetables you may have lurking in your freezer. Feel free to toss in corn -- if you look hard, you'll see there's some in my picture of the soup -- or green beans, etc.