Mimi Spencer
Mimi Spencer and Sam Rice met at the school gates and became firm friends through their mutual passion for healthy great food. They are co-authors of the best selling cookbook THE MIDLIFE KITCHEN.
Mimi’s All Green Soup
Mimi Spencer
Effort:
Complexity:
Cost:
Serves: 4
Prep time: 10 mins
Cook time: 20 mins
Ingredients:
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
3 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
5 cm piece of fresh root ginger, peeled and sliced
1 tsp ground coriander
5cm piece fresh turmeric root, peeled and grated, or 1 tsp ground turmeric
1 star anise
Sea salt
Fresh ground black pepper
500ml vegetable stock
2 courgettes, sliced
1 head broccoli, chopped (include tender stalks)
2 large handfuls kale, chopped
Juice of 2 limes
A handful of flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
To serve: 2-3 tbsp natural, unsweetened yoghurt (optional)
Veg Portions / Serving: 3
Recipe donated by Mimi Spencer & Sam Rice for Veg Power. Recipe adapted from The Midlife Kitchen by Mimi Spencer and Sam Rice, published by Mitchell Beazley. Photography by Issy Croker | issycroker.com
Forget green juice or anything that tastes remotely of garden clippings, the perfect way to get your fill of leafy greens is in a soup – and this is the best we’ve tasted. Pile in the veg, simmer it down, give it a quick pulse in the blender, and there you have it: a delightful bowl of antioxidant goodness. Add a generous spoonful of natural yoghurt for a creamy tang and some extra protein to keep you fuller for longer. Use your on-their-way-out green veggies for a great food waste beating soup!
Method:
Put the oil in a large pan, add the garlic, ginger, coriander, turmeric, star anise, salt and pepper, and fry on a medium heat for 2 minutes, then add 3 tbsp of stock to give a little moisture to the spices.
Add the courgettes, mixing well to coat the slices. Add the remaining stock and simmer for 5 minutes.
Add the broccoli, kale and lime juice and simmer for a further 3-4 minutes until all the vegetables are softened. You may have to add a little more water depending on the volume of greens, but plenty of moisture will be released from the vegetables.
Take off the heat and add the chopped parsley. Remove the star anise and pour everything into a blender. Blitz until almost smooth. Reheat if necessary and serve with a yoghurt swirl.
Engaging Kids
Kids who engage regularly with veg through veg-themed activities, such as arts and crafts, sensory experiences, growing and cooking are shown to be more likely to eat the veg they engage with. Encouraging kids to engage and play with veg is the handy first step to them developing a good relationship with veg and life-long healthy eating.
Kids in the kitchen
Get older kids chopping and prepping the veg, and younger ones washing and tearing the kale leaves off the stalks. Have them carefully add the veg to the pan and blitz up the soup when it is ready (allow to cool slightly for younger kids).
Activities
While getting kids to interact with veggies for real and using their senses to explore them is best, encouraging hands off activities like arts & crafts, puzzles & games or at-home science experiments can be a great start, particularly for those who are fussier eaters or struggle with anything too sensory. Use these veg-themed activities as a stepping stone to interacting with the veg themselves. We have loads of crafty downloads here, puzzles here, and quirky science with veg here.
Sensory
Once you feel your child is ready to engage a little more, you can show them how to explore the veg you have on hand with their senses, coming up with playful silly descriptions of how a veg smells, feels, looks, sounds and perhaps even tastes. Find ideas, videos and some simple sensory education session ideas to get you started here.
Serving
The moments before food is offered can be a perfect opportunity for engagement that can help make it more likely a child will eat it! Giving children a sense of ownership in the meal can make a big difference to their feelings going into it and the pride they take in it. You know your child best, but if you aren’t sure where to start, we have some fun and simple ideas for easy roles you can give them in the serving process over here.
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