Acquiring food habits

Lulu most likely does not like pineapple because I rarely buy or serve it–I actually don’t like pineapple.
On the other hand, my children both enjoy soup because I prepare pots filled with all sorts of soup.

Food habits travel from me to our children, I can see that.

It’s a great thing because there’s a ton of nutrition that goes in a bowl of soup. Maybe one day I will revisit the idea of pineapple, and then change the food habit in the family!

But for now we are still looking at soups and these days, ours still have a wintry flair.

Each one of my children has a preference for one soup versus another too. While Lulu likes the soups I prepare with butternut squash, carrots, sweet potatoes (hello orange!), Rémy eats any kind of soup right now–and hopefully he will continue. They can be green, orange, white, or red; vegetarian, silky in texture or chunky; with rice or noodles; or loaded with pieces of fish and meat.

Toutes les soupes!

As long as they continue to eat soups, I am fine with it.

What fascinates me about Lulu is that while it can be hard to say what goes in a soup by just looking at its color (I invent a lot of soups with whatever vegetables I have handy in the fridge, so colors can be a surprise), Lulu is able to pin point at some ingredients I use.

This weekend, I made a soup with leek, carrots, fresh garlic, and potatoes and as I was ready to purée it, I decided to add a handful of frozen peas with baby spinach leaves in it. The color of the soup turned green with a subtle hint of orange.

“Tu as mis des petits pois ?” Lulu inquired after the first spoonful.

I looked at her, surprised, and then smiled. I love that my girl is developing a palate and can guess what goes in a dish.

I like to add peas in many dishes, some of which appear more unusual than others.

Going back to our soup, it is really easy to make and loaded with good vegetables for my growing children. It’s also a dish fast to make. In fact, I rushed to prepare it while still wearing my running clothes after a late morning run. Lulu was out with her dad, Rémy, and Philip’s Irish cousin David who was visiting, and I only had 40 minutes to prepare lunch before everyone returned home. I scanned the fridge and created that.

I am glad to report that this soup was a hit on our lunch table (I made it again yesterday so that I could take a quick picture for you, and this time I used butternut squash in place of carrots, because that’s what I had).

I also had a rind of Parmesan cheese handy (I keep them refrigerated in a ziplock bag for spontaneous uses like this one), so I added it to the pot of simmering vegetables to give extra body. In many ways, this soup is reminding me of a classic soupe poireau/carotte/pomme de terre (leek/carrot/potato soup) my mother made often when I was a kid.

Serve the soup with homemade croûtons (I flavor mine with olive oil and parsley) and a generous dollop of crème fraiche.

Bon appétit !

And by the way, like in the first, I have a lot more soup recipes in book number 2.