The Best Soup to Make For Kids

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Soup is a delicious food and there are lots of different types of soups you can make. When you make soup from scratch, the soup ends up containing all the goodness from the vegetables. If you boil vegetables, you usually throw the water out, but with soup the goodness stays in the soup, making it a very nutritious dish.

Kids can be fussy eaters so if you want to get them to eat vegetables, you might have to puree the soup, else they will pick out the bits they do not like. Pumpkin soup is a wonderful recipe for kids because pumpkin is naturally sweet and juicy. Some pumpkin soup recipes have added sugar, honey, or cream and the idea of a sweet tasting soup is something that will capture your child's interest.

Making Soup an Attractive Meal

Other popular soups for kids include tomato soup, chicken noodle soup, carrot and orange soup or anything with their favorite cartoon character on the packet. Homemade soups are much better for kids because they do not contain the preservatives, artificial colorants and other fillers than canned or packet soups do.

Garnish your homemade soup with a dollop of cream and a sprinkling of cinnamon to make it look attractive to the little ones, or serve it with crusty bread for dunking. Avoid anything sour, bitter, spicy, or too strong flavored, if you want your kids to eat it without protest. Making your own soup at home means you can control the ingredients and put your kids' favorite flavors into the soup recipe.

Sweet and Creamy Pumpkin Soup

The following recipe is designed to appeal to adults and kids. The pumpkin soup contains butter, flour, a little sugar, and milk for creaminess. The onion adds nutrients and the pumpkin adds both sweetness and vitamins. If you puree the soup in a blender, do it in batches. Pureeing the soup is optional though, but a good way to hide the vegetables.

Your kids are guaranteed to clean their bowls if you serve them this delicious pumpkin soup. The following recipe makes enough to serve four people. It does tend to get quite thick, so just add more milk if that happens.

How to Make an Easy Pumpkin Soup Recipe

What you will need:

3 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon sugar
1 onion, chopped
2 cups milk
1 lb pumpkin, cubed
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

How to make it:

Boil the pumpkin cubes until they are very soft, and then drain away the water. Melt the butter in a pan and fry the onion in it, over a medium heat, until it is soft. Add the sugar, flour and some salt and pepper and cook for 5 minutes.

Add the milk slowly, stirring all the time. Keep cooking over a low heat, stirring the soup until it is hot and thick. Add the pumpkin and simmer the soup for 5 minutes, then puree it in a blender and serve hot.