Tomato Soup, Quinoa and Corn, Whole-Grain English Muffin with Olive Spread (No Added Fat)

My 2nd grader enjoys sometimes helping me to cook dinner. I got the book Eat Your Greens, Reds, Yellows, and Purples by DK Press from the library, and she enthusiastically picked out several recipes. We're at the end of a few days of unseasonably cool and rainy weather, so one of her choice's, that of a tomato soup, sounded good. Here is the recipe with our modifications. She did most of the cooking with some help from me!


Ingredients

• Small onion, chopped (3/8" cubes, 2/3 cup)
• Small carrot, chopped (3/8" cubes, almost a cup)
• 2 ribs celery, chopped (3/8" slices, about a cup)
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 1T all-purpose flour (we used whole wheat bread flour)
• 14 ounces canned chopped tomatoes
• 1T tomato paste (we used the full 2T in the small can we had)
• 1T fresh thyme leaves (I didn't have thyme so we used 2t frozen basil)
• 1 3/4 cups vegetable stock (we used water and a vegan bouillon cube
• Pinch of sugar
• 1/4 t salt
• 1/2 t freshly ground black pepper

Process

1. Saute onion, carrot, and celery [and garlic - see note] for about 5m till soften (the recipe suggests adding garlic in the next step with flour, but I'm going to add it at the beginning) in a large Saladmaster stock pan with no oil (the book called for a traditional saute with olive oil)
2. Stir in flour and cook for another minute
3. Add canned tomato, tomato paste, basil, stock, and sugar
4. Bring to a boil, then simmer on low for 25m
5. Add salt and pepper and blend until smooth (the recipe called for returning the soup to a pan, but my Vitamix blender runs so speedily that it continues to heat the soup)

We served with quinoa and corn, along with whole grain English muffin halves topped with an olive spread (just a little, and that contributes so little fat that I will keep the description as "no added fat").

Results

Dinner was great! My daughter, who normally doesn't like quinoa, even liked that - and she suggested that maybe it was because she had helped to make it :-) . My daughter initially loved her soup but then said that it was a bit bitter. I should not have doubled the tomato paste. On her request, I went light on the onion, but a little more onion might actually have sweetened the soup - as well as a second pinch of sugar.

Ideas for the future

I wonder what tomato soup blended with a little watery avocado (maybe the large Floridian ones and not the haas variety we usually buy) might be like.  I want to get my daughter's suggested recipes and help for more meals!