Squashed!

I was randomly flipping the channels the other day and came across a PBS cooking show on vegetarian cooking. We have periodically gone vegetarian in the past - mainly for my husband's cholesterol issues - but have never really been able to stick with it. (I am a protein person - if I don't have enough of it, I get a little cranky.) In any case, I typically do several vegetarian dishes during the week, in addition to our meat based meals. I am always on the look-out for new stuff to try, so when I stumbled across this cooking show, I decided to watch for a few minutes.

Bear in mind that I started watching this thing at about the midpoint of the show, so I had already missed some of this woman's other concoctions. I began watching her make a pureed watercress and potato soup. Now, let me just say that this sounds fairly foul to me, even on a good day. (One in which I am willing to let go of any previous food bias and try a new combination of flavors.) I am sure it is pretty mild - especially since the vegetables were simmered in plain water and the final soup was seasoned only with sea salt and ground black pepper - but, seriously, I am not sure who, particularly in my family, would enjoy warming up with this odd soup.

Despite my obvious reservations about this TV cook, she did say something that caught my attention. As she began pureeing the cooked potatoes and watercress, she said, "you know, kids will eat almost any kind of soup, as long as it has been pureed. If they go poking around, unable to find any chunks of vegetables, they are more likely to try and enjoy them." Huh. That totally makes sense, actually. Honestly, I don't often like chunks of vegetables in my soups (please see a previous post on Roasted Vegetable Soup and my hatred of any form of celery), so wouldn't the same apply to my kids? Worth a try anyway....

Fast forward to menu planning at the beginning of this week: I had decided to try a pureed butternut squash soup to see if my kids would actually eat it. The recipe came from a cookbook called, "Great Food, Fast" by the editors of "Everyday Food". They also have a cooking show, which my kids and I enjoy watching together and I often rely on them to find recipes that are both kid and adult friendly. In any case, this was a pretty simple soup, calling for butternut squash (I subbed acorn squash), onions, garlic, ginger, water, salt and pepper and a small amount of fresh squeezed orange juice at the end of cooking. Puree it all together, top with a little (optional) sour cream and/or spicy roasted pumpkin seeds and viola! Instant, healthy and delicious family meal, right?

Oddly enough, the answer to that last question was: YES! Both of my kids tried the soup and my older daughter loved it! She actually finished her entire bowl! To be fair, I think she actually loved the spiced pumpkin seeds better than anything else, but still: I got that kid to eat a full serving of a vegetable that, had I prepared it in its whole form, she would not have touched with a ten-foot pole! My younger daughter, who I often accuse of surviving on air alone, tasted the soup, declared she did not like the sour cream that she had insisted on swirling into it and refused to finish it. She did, however, finish her salad, so that was a partial win for me there as well. My husband and I both enjoyed the soup ourselves and, yes, we both finished our bowls. Even without the addition of a stock (chicken or otherwise), I found this soup to be warming, filling and even a little refreshing. Pureed squash soups are often heavy or cloying, but this one was neither. It was nice - and we will probably repeat the recipe again.

In conclusion: thank you random vegetarian PBS TV host who suggested pureeing vegetables into soup to get kids to eat it. That was a great idea, even if your potato and watercress soup turned (and still turns) my stomach at the mere thought of it.