If you have been around a 5-year-old girl lately, you’d know that rainbows are huge. Unicorns and rainbows. What a world they live in! I started using “rainbow carrots” in our vegetable soup last year and dubbed it “Rainbow Vegetable Soup” at our house. Emma looooved this. She loves helping to make it, she loves eating it. I’m not kidding – loves it.
I will not pretend that we eat healthy all of the time (you’ve seen those Oreos on my Instagram!), but this vegetable soup is actually delicious. The only tricky part about this is that it is never the same. This is the soup that I make at the end of the week – usually on a Thursday or Friday afternoon. I make it from all of the vegetables that we have in the fridge that won’t get eaten. You know, because it is going to be the weekend and we’ll be eating pizza and Oreos. It takes about 30 minutes to make. I make it as big as I can and put it in individual freezer containers so I can get them out for lunch, or a quick dinner. These work great when Mike is traveling. Sometimes I get a couple of meatballs out of the freezer or add pasta or tortellini to it for a little more oomph.
This batch was particularly yummy. We had tomatoes, zucchini and herbs from our garden, that I threw in with onions, pancetta and rainbow carrots. I cook it in chicken broth and add plenty of sea salt. Sea salt (and a little crushed red pepper) is the difference between great and not-great soup.
Rainbow Vegetable Soup
3 tablespoons of olive oil
1/2 onion, small dice
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1/4 pound of pancetta or bacon
1 pound of carrots, small diced
1 zucchini, diced
1 tablespoon of sea salt
1 teaspoon of pepper (I use crushed red or black)
2 tablespoons of fresh basil, minced
2 tablespoons of parsley, minced
2-3 tomatoes, diced (or 1 pint of cherry)
1 quart of chicken stock
2 cups of kale (or spinach), chopped
Begin by cooking the onions and bacon together until soft and fat rendered. Add carrots. Cook until they begin to soften. Repeat with zucchini. Add salt and pepper. Add tomatoes and fresh herbs. Add chicken stock and bring to strong simmer. Add kale. Taste for seasoning. Simmer until vegetables are soft.
This recipe has saved me from eating unhealthy lunches while Emma’s at school. The night before, I pull one (or two if Mike needs lunch, too) from the freezer and put it in the fridge. It reheats in a bowl in the microwave in about 3 minutes. It is so comforting and yummy every day of the week and packs my mid-day full of healthy veggies.