Can't Believe It's Allergy Free!

Soups can be tasty, varied and wholesome. At the toddler stage, soups provide the best basic nutrition. Tasty and creative combinations add a new dimension to eating out of jars, jars and more jars. Moreover, it is better to develop a liking and taste for veggies at this early stage. A 2002 survey tells us that one in five babies is “eating candy every day. And the #1 vegetable for toddlers isn’t pureed carrots: its French Fries.”

For older kids, soups are good comfort foods. Soup bases and purees can be used in many interesting ways with pastas and meats to provide wholesome meals. Even if some foods have to be avoided, there’s plenty which one CAN have and enjoy,and pack in lots of nutrition too.

Homemade, fresh/frozen soups have many nutritional advantages over canned/packaged soups—

• The high heat typically used in making canned and jarred foods softens veggies and causes them to lose color, flavor and nutrient value, while meat can shrink and toughen.
• The thickness of canned soups often comes from added thickeners.
• Many of these soups are loaded with sodium.
• The main additives of canned foods are salt and sugars, as in the case of fruit.

All Soups recipes in this section yield 4 adult servings.

The whole family can enjoy these soups—in fact, it is essential to have part of a meal at least in common with the child who has food allergies. This reduces the sense of exclusion that food sensitive children may develop.

I like to double the recipe and freeze at least half of it, in such a way that even small portions can be taken out right after that soccer game, or to satisfy hunger pangs on a cold evening.

To Freeze Soups

• Remove the portion to be kept aside, before diluting the rest with milk, broth or additional water.
• Pour the thicker portion into ice trays.
• Cover with plastic foil and freeze for at least 6 hours.
• Remove ice trays. Invert, hold slightly above the plastic foil that will come off the tray, Twist the tray so that frozen cubes will drop onto plastic foil.
• Pack in Ziploc freezer bags taking care to eliminate as much air as possible before sealing the bag
• Only the required number of cubes can be removed as and when needed. Microwave and dilute with milk, broth or water, or add creamed silken tofu for a dairy free alternative.