To ask for child friendly soup recipes?

[Tinysnickers]

shamelessly posting for traffic I'm afraid...
I want to eat soup in winter and it would be really useful on night when 2 different kids have 2 different back to back clubs if I could have it ready in the slow cooker when we finally get home.
The only soup my kids have liked so far is a blended root veg soup (carrot, potato, swede, butternut all blended up) but we are all a bit sick of it tbh.
So please share child friendly soup ideas with me?
Neither child will eat unblended onions.
It also can't have mushrooms, leeks, celery, cauliflower or broccoli because one or both will refuse those.

Does anyone have any tried and tested kids favourites?

Carrot red lentil stock - simmer till soft and blitz. Not too far from what you've done but lentils are great protein source

Another huge fan of lentil soup - my regular go to is lentil and bacon - super easy to make, keeps well in the fridge (I often make it super concentrated by adding less water when I prepare it, then dilute when I reheat it)
www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/lentil-bacon-soup

Delia's pumpkin soup with melting cheese,
Tomato, there's a Tesco recipe with various vegetables blended into it which mine love,
Minestrone
Pasta e fagioli
Chicken noodle
Spicy butternut squash
Leek and butter bean (it's all blended so no visible leeks)

I find having various toppings can help to make it more exciting, crispy bacon, grated cheese, cheese on toast, croutons, crispy herbs.

If the soup is blended to smooth, will they know exactly what's in it? (assuming it's preference rather than an allergy?)

The recipe above doesn;t include blending to smooth, but I blitz it with my stick blender anyway.

You can make "tomato soup" with hidden veg - diced butternut squash, red peppers and red onion with tinned tomatoes and veg stock then blend it all together makes a lovely creamy soup. You can add a bit of chilli, paprika or red thai curry paste if you want a bit of heat in it.

DS3 is obsessed with this, only soup he'll eat: www.panningtheglobe.com/colombian-chicken-soup-ajiaco/

He had a Colombian babysitter who made it and now I make it for him

Mine love noodle soup / pho
Mexican chicken white bean and tortilla
Chorizo and butter bean
Minestrone
Lentil and bacon
Pea and ham

Mine are obsessed with chicken and sweetcorn soup.

Make a stock with the carcass next time you have a roast chicken and stick it in the freezer. Then when you’re making it add onion, celery, carrot, parsnips and just about any other veg you’ve got in the fridge that needs using. Simmer/slow cook for as long as you can, then add half the leftover chicken, blend it all up. Then add the rest of the chicken, as much sweetcorn as you like and double cream right at the end.

You’ve made me want soup now

My kids love what I call Mexican rice soup

Chicken pieces on the bone or chopped up to you

Carrot, celery, onion fry off
Garlic
Oregano
Chicken stock

Simmer for 10 mins
Add hand full of rice
Simmer 10 mins

@georgarina

DS3 is obsessed with this, only soup he'll eat: www.panningtheglobe.com/colombian-chicken-soup-ajiaco/

He had a Colombian babysitter who made it and now I make it for him

Ooh my kids will love this too

Roasted tomato soup with some croutons and a drizzle of cream on top. Roast onions, garlic, capsicum and tomatoes with olive oil and herbs the add stock and blend.

Chicken noodle soup, leftover chicken carcass, to make stock, add some veg athey will eat whole, carrot etc and then some small pasta shapes

Another vote for lentil and bacon, we blend it so it's smooth and it tastes delicious!

I make roasted red tomato and red pepper soup. Get 4 packs of tomatoes and cut in half with a few peppers and roast with olive oil and salt. Meanwhile make a stock of whatever other veg you want in such as a bit of carrot and onion and celery etc. When tomatoes are roasted chuck it all in and blend. I do have to pass it through a sieve to take out the seeds and skins and I do chuck in a load of creme or creme fraiche at the end to make it nicer

Butternut squash and peanut butter soup. Hugh FW recipe is good, though I don't put in as much pb as he does. www.rivercottage.net/recipes/butternut-nut-butter-soup

Parsnip soup is good too. This is my favourite and contains no onion www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/spiced_parsnip_soup_with_10574

“Porotos granados” from River Cottage Veg book is very popular with mine. It’s between a stew and a soup. It has butternut, sweetcorn, green beans and borlotti beans and is very sweet.

@georgarina

DS3 is obsessed with this, only soup he'll eat: www.panningtheglobe.com/colombian-chicken-soup-ajiaco/

He had a Colombian babysitter who made it and now I make it for him

That sounds amazing! Another one to add to my list, along with the lentil and bacon one mentioned above.

M&S tomato soup is very nice and gets the thumbs up at my house.

Mine also like a simple minestone soup. I make it at home with onion (but you could leave out!) carrots, peas, soup pasta, cannellini beans and chicken stock. You can add other veg if you or they like. Just dice up into small cubes and simmer in the broth. I started with a lot of pasta and have gradually reduced the amount so it's more soup than pasta.

It's also led on to ramen style soups now too which is good. So Chicken noodle soups.

Another vote for lentil. Red lentil and carrot is a great combination.

A lot of veg can be hidden by blending (and not mentioning!) it

Spicy parsnip

Chickpea and lentil

Chicken soup with rice

Minestrone

Put anything you want in the soup. Blend it. Tell them it’s chicken/potato/what ever the hell you think they’ll believe (something they will be willing to eat).

Blending covers all manner of sins and no one needs to know what exactly is in it!

Scotch broth is full of veg and grains so very filling.

Lentil as above. I don't blend but my kids arent fussy with veg.

Roasted Red pepper and tomato soup is lovely and blended so lots of hidden veg. I like to put a bit of chilli in too.

Pumpkin and sweet potato, again blended.

Favourite at the moment is "garlic soup" which is basically fineky diced or grated onion, garlic sautéed down, chicken stock, finely diced red peppers, any green veg chopped up fine (I use cabbage, sprouts, green beans or broccoli, just what needs used) and orzo pasta (or any other tiny pasta shapes) sometimes i will chuck in leftover chicken too. I add a bit of cayenne too.

Onions are really a base for most soups and give sweetness so I'd look at grating them down so they're not detected if you're not blending.

Pea and ham or bacon?

One thing that works well here is to have lots of topping to add to the soup eg bacon bits, grated cheese, croutons, herbs, seeds, chopped tomatoes. Enough of those and DC will usually eat a blended soup of any description

@georgarina

DS3 is obsessed with this, only soup he'll eat: www.panningtheglobe.com/colombian-chicken-soup-ajiaco/

He had a Colombian babysitter who made it and now I make it for him

This sounds delish, thanks! I actually ate something very similar in Ecuador but never remembered the name to make it again.

My favourite soup recipe:- chop up and roast a whole butternut squash and add in any vegetables that are kicking around, I like adding red onion, carrot, broccoli, red pepper, sprinkle some salt pepper and garlic granules. Once roasted pop it in a pot on the stove, pour in some vegetables stock (how much depends on how thick or runny you like your soup) put on a low heat and whiz it up (add more stock or boil down do your preferred consistency). Salt and pepper to taste, and some bake at home crusty bread, stir in some creme freche if you want to, I don't usually. You can add other things like croutons, fresh herbs, fried lardons, spices like nutmeg etc. It's really delicious. It's good for kids because the butternut squash is quite sweet and masks the flavour of a lot of less pleasant but healthy vegetables.