I’m a busy mom of two toddlers. As much as I want to prepare healthy, home cooked meals for them, it’s hard to find the time to. Like many parents who resort to pre-made, canned soup – I get it. It’s time consuming to put healthy meals together for our families, I deal with that every day.
We avoid processed foods by making homemade batches of anything.
To make life easier, I now prepare a batch of homemade soup every now and then. I’ll save it in a large container in the fridge for the rest of the week, making it fast to prepare for quick meals.
This soup is light, full of flavour, and great to have for lunch with the kids. See for yourself:
It’s a family favourite in our home and very toddler friendly. Speaking of perfect toddler food, my daughters ate up all of these gluten-free, star shaped peanut butter cookies the other day. Who knew they didn’t need flour?
I find that when my kids go through “picky eater” phases, I can never go wrong with this soup. They almost always finish a bowl with a serving size the same as mine!
Vegetables add the right amount of fibre and nutrients we all need. The soup itself provides our little ones with enough fluids to stay hydrated. The beans are very high in fibre and other excellent nutrients. That’s why I’m never hesitant to eating soup during the summer months. It’s perfect for a lunch or even a main meal at dinnertime.
I always try to keep the sodium content low because it’s easy to get carried away while cooking and taste testing. For half the salt, use half of the chicken cube/broth.
Homemade Vegetable Soup
Ingredients
- 6 cups water
- 1 chicken flavoured bouillon cube
- 1 tbsp margarine or butter
- 3 carrots mdeium
- 2 celery stocks with leaves
- 1 onion medium
- 1 cup spinach
- 1/2 can navy beans organic
- 1 clove garlic
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 cup pasta optional
Instructions
- Chop the onion, carrots, celery, spinach, and garlic.
- Add all of the ingredients to a large pot with the 6 cups of water (throw in spices towards the end to taste).
- Bring the soup to a boil and simmer for a minimum of 15 minutes.
Nutrition
*Portion the soup into containers and place in the freezer or the fridge. It will last around 4 days in the fridge.
I hope that you enjoy this simple dish! Let me know in the comments below of your homemade soup ideas!
Michelle