Alphabet Soup Recipe

Have you ever read the ingredients on canned soup or boxed soup mixes? How many of the listed items have names you can neither spell or pronounce? There is good reason for that -- it makes it harder to realize what you are REALLY eating.

Making your own means you will have food with no unnecessary additives, colors, preservatives, flavor enhancers, and artificially added vitamins to make up for the ones destroyed during processing.

Sure, canned soup is convenient, but I think once you see how easy almost all of the recipes in this collecton of lenses are to prepare, especially those that you can freeze or make into a mix yourself to keep on hand in your cupboard, you will no longer be willing to "trade-off" health and nutrition for convenience.

The photo is of a mix we make for a Mexican flavored Bean Soup, but it works for a variety of soups - including this one. Just layer the dry ingredients in a one quart jar or mix them together, depending on recipe and store the sealed jar in your cupboard.

If you are layering the ingredients, consider the size, weight, and color of each in filling the jar. For example, alternate colors and put smaller ingredients (like lentils or split peas) in first with larger ones (like dried kidney beans) on top as that will make it easier to keep the layers separated. You can wrap seasonings in a square of plastic wrap or small plastic bag and place that on top if you choose to include dried herbs in the mix.

Prepared home-made soup mix also makes an attractive, easy, inexpensive but thoughtful gift. Tie a ribbon around the jar and perhaps add a small wooden spoon or, if appropriate, a nutmeg grater or other small gadget related to the recipe on one side. Be sure to print out a copy of the instructions to include with the jar. I like to make a personalized lable for the front of the jar and put the instructions on the back. Be creative! Have fun! And enjoy!

• 1 1/4 cup dry green split peas
• 1 1/4 cup dry yellow lentils
• 1 1/2 to 2 cups alphabet pasta (maybe a little more)
• 1/3 cup barley or long grain rice
• 1/3 cup dried minced onion
• 1/3 cup dried parsley

Since this makes 5 cups of mix, you will need a one cup measuring cup and a one quart* (4 cups) jar. You can divide the ingredients individually if you do want to layer them, but dividing each ingredient into 4/5ths and 1/5th tries my patience, so I mix all of the above dry ingredients EXCEPT FOR THE ALPHABET PASTA together in a bowl.

You will have 3 cups of the mix. Measure 2 2/3 cups of the mixture without the pasta and pour into jar, reserving the rest to cook now. (If ingredients settle after filling jar or don't quite fill it, you can add more alphabet pasta or barley to top it off.)

1 cup of mix is enough to make 6 servings of soup. Enough at our house to have some left over for the next day's lunch.

* Note: 1 Quart is just a little less than 1 Liter (1 Liter = 1.06 Quarts). They are close enough in size to substitute for each other.

• 1 Cup Alphabet Soup Mix
• 2 Cups Fresh Peeled, Diced tomatoes
  or 1 can chopped tomatoes in puree
• 32 ounces Vegetable or Chicken broth
  I use organic boxed broths or
  make my own and freeze for uses such as this
• Salt and Pepper to taste (optional)

Add one or more of the following
(will also increase number of servings accordingly)

• Diced carrots (about 3/4 cup)
• Diced potato (about 3/4 cup)
• Small meatballs (3/4 to 1 cup)
• About a cup of Frozen mixed vegetables
• If you have any leftover cooked chicken, beef, or turkey,
   you can cut up the meat and add it to the soup

Research shows that we learn more when that learning is connected to relevant activity. Cooking with children can be very educational as well as fun and I know I still have fond memories of helping to measure, mix (and taste!) in the kitchen when I was a child. Build on that with any of the suggested books below to reinforce and expand positive learning experiences. Here are some suggestions for books to use to help you turn cooking and meal time into an educational experience for children.

Music is another way to make it easier to learn and remember, from singing the "ABC" song to improving memory. I know hearing certain songs can bring back particulary warm, fuzzy feelings from my childhood as I can still hear them in my mind being sung in my mother's voice or with the scratchy sounds of records played on my dad's old victrola phonograph. Below you will find some of our suggestions for memorable music to accompany cooking and dining.

SquiDirectory - A categorized Squidoo directory featuring an interesting variety of different subjects ranging from arts and literature, shopping, and eco friendly tips, to vehicles for sale, travel, and everything in between.

Special thanks to Steve Thompson of Tags for Kids for the Squid Art used in this and another module on this lens!

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