Celebrate your child's love of learning

© Wondertime

Sippable suppers: Like having a Slurpee for dinner. Just not cold, or sweet.

Recipe: White Bean, Chicken, and Chili Soup
Recipe: Lentil Soup
Recipe: Corn Bread
Recipe: Thai-style Butternut Squash Soup
Recipe: Stone Soup
Recipe: Popovers

Recently, when I referred to our something-from-nothing vegetable-drawer dinner as Stone Soup --more appetizing, I thought, than the contending name Compost Soup -- my daughter asked if there were really stones in it, and then gently accused me of lying.

What I really wanted to say was that's kind of how it is with soup: something between a fib ("The Aztecs made this soup as an offering to their gods!") and cheerful propaganda ("That squash was so great last night, I thought we'd have it again today -- as soup!"). My kids, they're not so interested in soup as classic comfort food, in its ability to rejuvenate elderly ingredients or to maximize vegetable consumption. They do like shallow bowls that cool the soup quickly, and they like it to be plenty salty. And they like these fantastic recipes. In fact, they almost love them. Almost.

white bean, chicken, and chili soup

As far as I can tell, my husband's native St. Louis has three culinary claims to fame: deep-fried ravioli, frozen custard, and chili. This chili-based soup wouldn't be your children's first choice from that particular trio, but tell them it's got corn in it, which should make them happy. The recipe belongs to my father-in-law's wife—the person our children have referred to, with fond devotion, as "Uncle Barbara" ever since they were teeny and unable to get their mouths around the less affectionate "stepgrandmother."

Makes 15 cups

1 tablespoon olive oil
2 onions, finely diced
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 large pinch cayenne (optional)
1 large pinch allspice
2 (4-ounce) cans chopped green chilies
2 pounds skinless, boneless chicken breasts, diced (cook them to your liking before you dice them, if you'd rather)
4 cups chicken broth (a 32-ounce box)
3 (15-ounce) cans white beans (great northern or navy), 2 drained, 1 with liquid
1 (16-ounce) bag frozen corn kernels
8 ounces Monterey Jack cheese, grated
Salt to taste

Heat oil in a soup pot over medium-high heat and sauté onions until translucent, about 5 minutes. Stir in the garlic, spices, and chilies, and sautéfor another minute. Add diced chicken and broth, and simmer until the chicken is opaque (if you used raw chicken), about 15 minutes. Add beans, corn, and half the cheese, and simmer another 15 minutes. Taste for salt, and serve with remaining cheese to sprinkle on top.

Next: Lentil Soup

lentil soup

This soup is friendly to many vegetal additions -- diced potatoes or zukes, added with the carrots and celery, or a bag of baby spinach stirred in near the end. It also takes kindly to a garlicky smoked sausage -- kielbasa, say, or even the lowly frankfurter -- diced and added in the middle of cooking.

Makes 8 to 12 cups

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
2 carrots, peeled and diced
2 large cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/2 cup plain tomato sauce or crushed or puréed tomatoes
1 teaspoon kosher salt (or half as much table salt)
2 cups dried tiny green lentilles du Puy or regular brown lentils, rinsed and drained
4 cups chicken broth (a 32-ounce box)
1 bay leaf
1 small sprig fresh thyme or a scant 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1 cup diced kielbasa (optional)
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

Heat oil in a wide sauté pan over medium-low heat, then sauté onion until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add celery, carrots, and garlic, and sauté until vegetables soften a bit, about 5 more minutes. Then add the tomato sauce, salt, lentils, broth, bay leaf, thyme, and 2 cups water, and stir. Simmer soup over very low heat, partially covered, for an hour, stirring every now and again to keep it from sticking. (Add the kielbasa, if using, after 45 minutes.) Add water if soup looks like it's drying out. When the lentils are nice and creamy, stir in the vinegar, then taste the soup, adding more vinegar or salt if the flavor needs brightening.

Next: Corn Bread

corn bread

This is delicious with lentil soup or chili, and quite sweet -- cut the sugar a bit if it feels wrong to serve something vaguely cakelike with dinner.

Makes 8 to 12 pieces

1 1/4 cups cornmeal
3/4 cup flour
1/3 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt (or half as much table salt)
2 eggs
2/3 cup milk
2/3 cup buttermilk
3 tablespoons butter, melted, then cooled slightly

Heat oven to 425 and either grease a 9-by-9-inch cake pan or put an equivalent-sized greased cast-iron skillet into the oven to heat. Whisk together dry ingredients in one bowl and wet ingredients in another.

Add the dry to the wet and stir just until moistened. Scrape batter into the pan and tilt it around a bit to level. Bake until bread is golden and not at all jiggly, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes.

Next: Thai-style Butternut Squash Soup

thai-style butternut squash soup

This soup's got it all: the daring, sophisticated scrumptiousness of Thai flavors, which my kids openly love, along with the texture, sweetness, and orange comfort of baby food, which they secretly remain partial to. Don't tell them I told you.

Makes 9 cups

1 large butternut squash
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 shallot, finely diced (about 1 tablespoon) or about 1 tablespoon diced onion
2 cloves garlic, pressed
1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger
1 teaspoon freshly grated lime zest
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1/4 teaspoon cayenne (optional)
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt (or half as much table salt)
1 tablespoon sugar
3 cups chicken broth
1 (14-ounce) can coconut milk
1 to 2 tablespoons lime juice
Nam pla (fish sauce)
Coarsely chopped cilantro (optional)

Heat oven to 400. Halve squash lengthwise and scrape out all the seeds and stringy gunk. Line a baking sheet with foil, grease it with 1 tablespoon of the oil, and roast squash, cut sides down, until it is very soft, 45 minutes to an hour. Meanwhile, heat the remaining tablespoon of oil in a soup pot over medium-low heat for 2 minutes. Add the shallot, garlic, ginger, zest, paprika, coriander, and cayenne. (For more authentic Thai ingredients, replace the zest, paprika, coriander, and cayenne with a teaspoon of red curry paste and 3 to 4 Kaffir lime leaves.) Stir briskly until it's sizzling and fragrant, 30 seconds or so. Add salt, sugar, broth, and coconut milk, and bring to a simmer. If the squash isn't done, cover broth mixture and turn off heat; otherwise, add the squash (after scraping or scooping it out of the peel), and simmer for 15 minutes. Purée soup with a hand blender (or in batches in a blender or food processor). Add 1 cup water if soup seems too thick, then stir in lime juice and a dash or two of fish sauce. Taste. It should be lively -- a mix of sweet, tart, and salty -- so add more lime juice, salt, or sugar if needed. Garnish with cilantro, if using, and serve.

Next: Stone Soup

stone soup

This is soup at its most basic -- a great way to use up any vegetables malingering in your fridge. But beware that some vegetables tend to have a colonizing effect on a pot of soup: Squash makes it squashy, broccoli makes it broccoli-y, and dried herbs and tomato make it taste like diner minestrone, not in a good way. If you've got plenty of time, simply dump the barley in with the rest of the ingredients and add a half hour to the overall cooking time. But I'm usually rushing, so I use the two-pot method.

Makes 10 cups

1/2 cup barley
4 cups chicken broth (a 32-ounce box)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, finely diced, or 2 leeks, washed well, halved lengthwise, and very thinly sliced crosswise
2 teaspoons kosher salt (or half as much table salt)
2 cloves garlic, pressed
2 carrots, diced
2 stalks celery, diced, with a handful of celery leaves, finely chopped
4 cups other vegetables -- some combination of potatoes (peeled and diced); cabbage, chard, kale, or spinach (finely shredded); summer squash or green beans (finely diced)
1 (15-ounce) can chickpeas or other beans, drained (optional)
Salt to taste
Olive oil and grated parmesan for garnishing

Place barley and broth in a small pot and bring to a boil over low heat. Stir, lower heat to a simmer, cover, and let barley cook while you prepare the other ingredients, about 30 minutes. Heat olive oil in a wide soup pot and sauté onion with 1 teaspoon salt over medium-high heat until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and the rest of the fresh vegetables, and allow this mixture to cook, stirring occasionally, for another 10 minutes or so. Pour barley into the pot with its broth, and add another teaspoon of salt and 2 cups of water. Simmer covered until all the vegetables and barley are tender, about 45 minutes. Add canned beans and another cup of water to keep the consistency soupy. Simmer 15 more minutes. Taste for salt, then serve garnished with a spoonful of olive oil and a sprinkle of parmesan.

Next: Popovers

Popovers

Popovers are insanely easy to make and are magically delightful; your kids might like to break them apart and use the halves as soup scoopers. Disclosure: Every now and then mine don't puff, and I'm never sure why.

Makes 12

2 eggs at room temperature
1 cup milk at room temperature
3/4 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt (or half as much table salt)
3 tablespoons salted butter

Heat oven to 450. Whisk together the eggs, milk, flour, and salt until they're mostly mixed (a few lumps are fine). Cut the butter into 12 slivers, pop one piece into each well of a 12-well nonstick muffin tin, and put the tin in the oven until the butter is melted and foamy, about 2 minutes. Fill each cup half full with batter (use all the batter), then bake until the popovers are puffed and brown, about 15 minutes. (Don't open the oven door to peek before then.) Serve immediately.