Creamy comfort in a warm bowl of vegetable soup with flavor that the kids will love!
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Cooler weather transitions, and warm bowls of soup!
It’s typically a slow go around here to make the move into cooler weather, but it’s most noticeable in the mornings, and the evenings. Sure, we’ll still have a 70 or even 80 degree day here or there, but those morning and evening temps in the 50’s is what cues us to the season change. We needed hoodies for a morning of apple picking last weekend, and it was so nice to come home to warm bowls of comforting soup for an early lunch!
“Kid Friendly” and “vegetables” in the same recipe?!
I know veggies aren’t typically kids’ first choice of food to eat, but we all know the importance to get mineral rich, fiber rich vegetables into our kids, and also to broaden their taste palates for all kinds of foods! Fortunately, there are ways to make veggies not only taste great for everyone, but also make those veggie vitamins absorb into our bodies easily, using creamy real fats! It’s that whole “fat soluble vitamin” thing – we need the fat for absorption, so lets make the veggies taste great with yummy, creamy fat. The kids will eat them easier, and the veggies will absorb too…win-win! Soups are a great way to get that creamy fat in with the veggies to make them taste great, and absorb easily.
What does Creamy Vegetable Soup taste like?
The key to great soup flavor all lies in the getting those veggies down in some butter to cook for a bit before adding anything else. The sweet flavor that comes from caramelized onions and carrots is pure magic. Every bit of this soup is filled with creamy potato and sweet carrots in a savory, satisfying broth. Those little bits of sweet corn definitely contribute to this soup’s kid friendliness, and while corn is technically a grain, not a vegetable, I’m all about sprinkling a hand full of corn into a soup to get kids excited about eating it.
The Method :: Let’s get this creamy vegetable soup started!
As mentioned above, the first part of soup making is what builds the best flavor. Get those staple veggies down in some butter and cook them for a bit. This will impart so much flavor to your broth as you continue to build your soup.
The Method :: Finishing the creamy vegetable soup
Once you get your veggies softened, you’ll add some garlic and flour to coat the veggies. This flour will soak up the fat and make a creamy broth base once the broth is added. You’ll add in your potatoes and broccoli, along with the broth and seasonings and simmer for 10 minutes. If you give that broccoli a small chop, they will disappear into the soup, and also give the soup more of a creamy broccoli soup flavor.
Veggie swaps
I always have broccoli on hand, so that is the main “green” veg I use in this creamy vegetable soup most of the time. But this is very flexible. If you have frozen peas or green beans, those are a great choice, and a budget friendly one if you are in the middle of winter without produce at seasonal prices! Another option would be to leave the broccoli out and wilt in chopped baby spinach at the end for your “green.” I have also swapped sweet potatoes or squash for the white potatoes. Use what you have or what you love in your home!
Tell me about those cute crackers!
Because I know I’ll get some questions about the itty bitty flower crackers, let me tell you about them! If you have my cookbook, “The Little Lunchbox Cookbook,” these are the simple 5-ingredient crackers recipe in the “Lunchables” section! The were meant to be larger crackers to make a “Cracker Stacker” Lunchable copycat, but the make cutie little mini crackers for soup too! The taste is incredible, and they couldn’t be easier to make. Do I used boxed gluten free crackers sometimes too – absolutely! But sometimes it’s nice to make these if I have an extra 15 minutes – they really are that easy to make! Here’s the mini flower cookie cutter I use for them. It’s super fun to make mini hearts for Valentine’s day or a birthday too!
Does this soup freeze?
I’m not a huge fan of the texture of potatoes that have been frozen and then thawed, so I would not recommend freezing this soup. What you could potentially do if you want to freeze it, is make the soup up until the point where you add the broth in, simmer the broth for a minute to combine the soup, and then stop. Don’t add the potatoes or broccoli. Just cool the soup and freeze it from there. Then, when you want to use the soup, you can thaw it, bring it to a simmer, and cook fresh potatoes and broccoli in the soup for 10 minutes. This will still be faster than making it from the start, so if you like to have a quick, frozen option on hand, you could try it that way!
Creamy Vegetable Soup :: Gluten & Dairy Free
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp butter to cook in olive oil, bacon fat, or avocado oil work too
- 1 large onion diced
- 2 large carrots diced
- 1 stalk of celery diced
- 4-5 cloves of garlic minced
- 1/4 tsp oregano
- 1/4 tsp thyme
- 1/3 cup Namaste GF Flour blend
- 1 ½ cups chopped broccoli florets
- 1 cup of frozen or drained canned corn
- 3 medium yellow potatoes large dice
- ½ cup coconut milk or cream if you can have dairy
- 1 tsp balsamic vinegar optional but so much depth of flavor with it!
- Sea salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Melt the butter in a soup pot over medium/high heat, and add the onion, carrot, and celery with a big pinch of sea salt. Cook on medium/high for about 7 minutes until the veggies soften and sweeten.
- Add the garlic, oregano, and thyme, and stir into the veggies for one minute.
- Add the flour, and stir to coat the veggies.
- Add the broth, corn, and potatoes, stir to combine, and bring to a simmer. Put the lid on the pot and low simmer for about 10 minutes, until the potatoes are fork tender. You'll want to stir the soup every once and a while to ensure the potatoes don't stick to the bottom of the pot.
- Once the potatoes are fork tender, turn the heat off, and add in the coconut milk and vinegar. Stir to combine, and taste for sea salt and pepper, adding that to your taste.
Notes
- If your child prefers smooth soup, or dislikes “chunks” in their food, you can puree the entire soup. Or puree half of the soup to stir back in so there are less chunks.
- Any GF flour blend should work as the flour thickener here, or all purpose flour if you can have gluten
- You can swap the broccoli for green beans, peas, asparagus, zucchini, or even just wilt in some spinach at the end.
- You could swap the potatoes for squash or sweet potatoes too!
- I love a little heat added to my bowl – pinch in some red pepper flakes or cayenne if you like that.
