Baby & Toddler Minestrone Soup

I remember we very often had soup for lunch as a child and it is something that came into it's own for me when I began weaning my children, now aged 10, 7, & 4.

On my own in the house at lunchtime weaning a young baby I found the easiest thing to do was to make a thick soup, and then either thin it down a little for my lunch or thicken it a little with baby rice or Ready Brek for baby.

The soup that has stayed the test of time is Minestrone, my recipe for which is here.  It is such a nutritious and filling soup, full of root vegetables, leafy greens, pulses, and of course pasta.  We started the kids off by pureeing the soup, firstly when they were weaning, but also with their budding self spoon feeding.  And thickened to a almost stiff wallpaper paste consistency with baby rice, it stays on the spoon pretty well regardless of the jaunty angle they wield it at! 

Now my kids love Minestrone lumpy now, happily picking out and identifying all the ingredients.  In any other meal with carrots Sprout tells me she hates them, but the 1cm lumps of carrot in Minestrone seem to be invisible.  I only had the opportunity today to photograph it pureed because Princess, who is still spoonfed at 10 because of her severe cerebral palsy, is feeling a little under the weather and needed a bit of easy to eat comfort food