Italian soups are often of the chunky and funky variety, wedding multiple al dente vegetables, beans, and pieces of meat together in thin broths (see: minestrone, Italian wedding soups)–not exactly the soup dreams of a small child. But the blender is your friend, my friend: it can puree any of that into a form more palatable for primitive palates. This play on Ribollita, essentially a minestrone thickened with bread, does just that: by whizzing kale and white beans until they become smooth and, well, non-existent, you create a simple green soup that’s healthy and tasty–and your child has no idea what’s in it.
(Check out our other great soup recipes!)
Chop carrots into small coins; dice onion into small pieces. Rip off leafy edges from the kale leaves and discard the remaining part of the kale (i.e., the stem and ribs).
Pour soup into a bowl, then squeeze a bit of orange on top and shave or sprinkle parmesan all over. If a vividly green bowl makes your child slightly skittish, drizzle some yogurt or sour cream all around; dotting it with Goldfish crackers helps, too. If you have your doubts that even those moves won’t work, the soup tastes good over pasta or rice, too–just add a bit of the cooking water to it to thin a bit, then toss in your noodle or grain.
You can use spinach in place of kale–about half a bag of spinach (i.e., 2 oz) should do–but note it will have a grassier flavor that may require additional squeezes of orange (or lemon), some more cheese, and/or a bit of yogurt or sour cream to make more palatable for your child.
Brad (the Dad) is the founder and Chief Recipe Officer of New Dad's Kitchen. His own cooking/feeding journey started humbly during his son's infancy, preparing and managing his son's bottle intake in order to support his wife; it has since blossomed into a full-on passion to feed his child and family delicious and healthy meals that can satisfy both a toddler and his very tired parents.
