Move Over Chicken Noodle... here comes something even better...Hotdog Soup!

Illness at the Amick house struck Saturday night, November 24th, while we were having a fun evening out at the home of the Olson family, who have become good friends of ours. We were enjoying an evening of board games and conversation, when Justin began to complain of a tummy ache. He hung in there all night while we visited, spending most of his time on the sofa - but vomited shortly after arriving home. Thus begun the plague of stomach pain, nausea, headache, and fever that swept through our home afflicting all but M.J. over the course of nine days. We seemed to go down in sets of two, then experiencing a mild recovery period followed by a relapse = fun. Through all of this, the kids had very sensitive stomachs that did not tolerate much, so we stuck to simple foods like... toast for awhile. Towards the end of the week, I had a desire to make a soup that would be power packed with nutrition, yet appealing to them, since they had lost much of their appetites. It was then that I discovered an idea sent to my very own email address via my Mothering Magazine weekly email newsletter... Potato Kale Soup (a.k.a. "Hotdog Soup") I looked it over and thought it was just the thing I needed to spark their interest in a healthy meal, so I called in my shopping list to Mike and set to task when he arrived home after work with the goods.

Needless to say, it was a HUGE success and the entire HUGE soup pot was devoured with requests for more. It was deemed the new "favorite" soup by several of the kids. We've made it twice already (the second time w/o the hotdogs, just adding more veggies and they still loved it!)

I have shared the recipe below along with the adaptations I made. The recipe is from one of Cathe Olson's cookbooks. I have her book The Vegetarian Mother's Cookbook: Whole Foods To Nourish Pregnant And Breastfeeding Women - And Their Families which I love and cannot recommend enough - so I am always game to give one of her recipes a try.

Potato-Kale Soup

By Cathe Olson

We call this dish "Hotdog Soup." Kids love the veggie-dog chunks.

6 medium potatoes peeled & cut into 1-inch cubes (about 8 cups)

2 cloves garlic, minced (I added extra)

2 stalks celery, diced

1 teaspoon salt

1 bay leaf

6 cups water or vegetable broth (I used homemade veggie broth, since I was going for maximum nutrients)

1 cup minced kale (I added extra, as well as some fresh spinach and put it through the food processor first to make the pieces very small... impossible to pick out of the soup!)

1 tablespoon nutritional yeast flakes (I added extra)

1/2 cup powdered milk (dairy or soy) dissolved in 1/2 cup water (I used regular soy milk from the carton)

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

6 Tofu Pups or other vegetarian hot dogs, sliced

1 tablespoon miso (I used light colored miso - could be left out if you have none)

*I also added big chunks of carrots, then removed them when cooked, mashed them, then added them back to the pot

* In addition to the veggie broth, I tossed in a few Rapunzel brand vegan vegetable broth cubes for added flavor

Place potatoes, garlic, celery, salt, and bay leaf (and carrots if using) in large pot with water or broth. Cover and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes, or until potatoes are tender. Remove bay leaf. Add kale, nutritional yeast, milk powder/milk, and pepper. Mash until smooth. Stir in hot dogs. Cover and simmer 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in miso.

Makes: 6 servings

Recipe from Cathe Olson's Simply Natural Baby Food: Easy Recipes Your Infant and Toddler Will Love. GOCO Publishing, 2003.