Toddler food is food that toddlers can play with. The whole life of a toddler centers around playing and doing things that are fun. Opening a door isn’t fun unless there’s someone to play peek-a-boo with around the other corner. Taking a bath isn’t fun unless there’s a rubber duckie in the bathtub at the same time. Eating meals is a chore unless there’s something new and exciting about the food.
In the Momma’s Best Alphabet Chicken Soup recipe below, you and your child both will have plenty of immune system boosters to ward away the germs this fall and winter. Onion is well known for its anti-microbial properties and should always be in the kitchen. The minute you hear any of your children sniffling, it’s time to make a dish with onions in it.
The carrots and yams are two high beta-carotene foods. Beta-carotene is a precursor to vitamin A, which means that beta-carotene is converted to vitamin A in the body. Vitamin A is especially important for the health of the mucous membranes that line the mouth, throat and lungs. Vitamin A helps the body make antibodies against foreign invading microbes that need to be anywhere else except near you and your children.
The celery provides a little extra fiber for the colon. It’s important to keep the colon working during the day so the body can have the energy needed to deal with potential cold and flu viruses or bacteria that cause infections, and not have to waste energy moving waste out of the body.
And the alphabet pasta – well, this ingredient is for your toddler’s enjoyment. Make the soup meal one that is entertaining as well as instructional by having your child find the first letter of his name in the soup. Try to get him to spell out his
name. Then don’t forget words such as “Mom”, “Dad”, “Dog” and “Cat”. Kids love rhyming so feel free to make it into a rhyming lesson. You might be in the process of sowing seed here for a champion speller or a poet; you never know it.
Here’s your recipe:
Momma’s Best Alphabet Chicken Soup
Yield: 10-12 servings
Ingredients
2 quarts water
1 pound raw chicken thighs, skinless
2 raw chicken breasts, skinless
1 tablespoon olive oil
Pinch of sea salt
½ teaspoon thyme (or poultry seasoning)
1-1/2 cups shredded carrots
1-1/2 cups sliced celery
1 cup red sweet onion, diced
1-1/2 cup diced yams
¼ cup fresh parsley, chopped
2/3 cup pasta in alphabet shapes (whole wheat or whole grain preferred)
Instructions
- Add olive oil to coat the bottom of a Dutch oven, and add chicken thighs and breasts. Spinkle ½ teaspoon thyme and a pinch of salt onto chicken. Cook on medium high heat.
Towards the end of the cooking add 2 cups water, which will become the broth for your soup.
3. Next add the rest of the water, carrots, celery, onion, yams. Cook, bringing soup to a boil, then reduce heat to low and cook for 15 minutes on low heat.
4. Add alphabet pasta. Cook until pasta is cooked thoroughly. Serve with a sprinkle of parsley on top.