Winter Night's Soup

Our vegan dinner last week came courtesy of a new blog, My Family Dish, started by a friend of mine from my old neighborhood. Her Winter Night's Soup (a minestrone) jumped right out at me; I was intrigued by the slow-cooking of the celery, carrots, and onion at the beginning and by the promise of big flavor without relying on stock. I also wasn't sure what to think about butternut squash cubes in a soup (I love butternut squash bisques, but haven't had many soups with the squash left in cubes). This soup was amazing!

Now, my kids hate soup, but I took a great tip from Jenna at Food with Kid Appeal and served some cheese toast alongside the soup. This dinner was vegan for me, not so much for the kidlets. But, it worked! They adored their cheese toast, dipped it in their soup broth a little, and even deigned to try a few bites of the soup (Lizzy picked out every bean, Abby said "I'm only eating the celery" and proceeded to eat every bit of kale. I certainly didn't correct her!)

Winter Night's Soup

How can you not love a soup with this many colorful ingredients?


I was out of cannellini beans, which the soup called for, and subbed in black beans and garbanzo. The garbanzo were not a good substitution, although at least Abby would eat them (she adores hummus, so I just told her they were un-smooshed hummus, and she delighted me by eating each one!). I adored the butternut squash in this soup - it was unexpectedly rich.

Definitely give this soup a try; it was fabulous, rich, chock-full of veggies, and the leftovers made for some great lunches!