Soup Chef

Your Child Will Learn

Food groups and cooking skills

Gather ingredients for your soup. Try to include one ingredient from each of these categories:
1. Liquid (water, stock, broth, etc.)
2. Soup starter aromatics (garlic, onion, ginger, peppers, celery, carrot, etc.)
3. Vegetable (can be fresh, canned, or frozen)
4. Carbohydrate (pasta, rice, hominy, etc.)
5. Spices or herbs (salt, pepper, any other spice/herb)
6. Optional: Protein (canned beans or peas, cooked meat)
With your child, prepare ingredients. They can help wash and cut soft vegetables, rinse beans, pour the liquid, pick herbs off of stems, and more!
Heat cooking oil in a large pot, add aromatics until fragrant. Add liquid and bring to a boil. Lower heat to a simmer, add other ingredients until cooked through. Taste (carefully!) and add spices or herbs until it tastes delicious. (note: an adult should complete all steps on the stove)
Enjoy the soup together. Talk about the ingredients and how you’ve made a balanced meal.

PAUSE

ENGAGE

“Let’s see if we can find something in our kitchen from each of these different food groups. Can you find a vegetable that might taste good in soup?”
“Can you help me peel this garlic?”

ENCOURAGE

“We need a carbohydrate, which is a food that gives us energy. Some good carbohydrates for soup are pasta, or hominy, or rice. Can you find one of those?”
“It is tricky learning how to cut a veggie. You’re doing a great job trying, and one day it will get easier!”

REFLECT

How does our soup taste? Can we taste all the ingredients we added? What would we change for next time?

If your child doesn’t have the attention span to make it through a whole recipe, let them take breaks and come back to help taste.

Write down the recipe you invented and make it again together.

They will understand different food groups and how to prepare them.

45 minutes

Soup ingredients (cooking liquid, vegetables, herbs/spices, starch)