Rainbow Soup

This soup has become part of a family tradition. First we wait for a wonderful rainy day, then we don our rain wear and old clothes and go puddle jumping! After an afternoon of puddle jumping, we return home, change into dry clothes and make Rainbow Soup to warm up! Our Rainbow Soup is so delicious it might just become part of yours too! It's an easy plant based recipe, perfect for the whole family to make together. Full of rainbow food, the delightful colors of vegetables make it fun and flavorful! Let's get cooking:

Rainbow Soup

Ingredients

• 1 Lg. Onion finely chopped
• 2 Lg. Carrots finely chopped
• 2 Celery Sticks finely chopped
• 2 Lg. Baking Potatoes or Blue Potatoes peeled and diced
• 1 Lg. Yellow Bell Pepper finely chopped
• 2 gloves finely minced Garlic
• 1 ½ cups Greenbeans chopped
• ½ cup cooked Spinach
• 3 cups Tomatoes peeled and chopped
• 4 Tbsps Olive Oil
• 2 Tbsps Honey
• 4 cups Vegetable Stock
• 2 Tbsps Fresh Basil finely chopped
• 1 Bay Leaf
• 1 tsp Sea Salt
• 1 tsp Freshly Ground Black Pepper

Method

1. In large non-stick fry pan add Olive Oil and when it's hot, add Onion, Carrots, Celery, Potatoes and Bell Pepper and saute until Onion is nicely browned.
2. Add Garlic and saute for 1 minute longer. Now add the remaining ingredients and simmer uncovered on low boil until all vegetables are very tender, about 20 minutes.
3. Remove Bay Leaf and using hand blender such as a Braun, blend until everything is nicely incorporated and pureed.

I like to get my toddlers involved in the making of the soup. This way they are much more inclined to eat it, plus it's a perfect opportunity to teach them about colors, measurments and the alphabet! First I cut up each vegetable and put each into separate small bowls. I line them up according to the colors of the rainbow. Onions, Garlic, Yellow Pepper, Carrots, Tomatoes. Blue Potatoes, Greenbeans, Spinach and then the herbs and spices. As I let them add each one, we talk about the color of that particular vegetable, what letter that color starts with and other words relating to soup and healthy eating that also begin with that letter. By the time the soup is done, they are jumping up and down, ready to eat it up, never once suspecting just how healthy it is.