Lucky New Year's Soup

Wanna make sure you have the best and brightest year ever? This soup could be your ticket. Dark leafy greens and black-eyed peas are the featured ingredients, which according to Southern US folklore bring good luck and prosperity for the year to come. The greens symbolize paper money, and the black eyed peas are reminiscent of coins. Of course, money can't buy happiness, but it also doesn't hurt!

Even if this soup doesn't bring you riches, you'll at least have your health! This vegan delight is chock-full of vitamins (like A & K), minerals (like iron & potassium) and fiber. 

So, we've got lucky and healthy - let's not forget tasty! We made this soup just last week at The Kids' Table in our Holidays Around the World Series. One of our regular little chefs, Edison, could not get enough Lucky New Year's Soup into her belly! She wanted to take her leftovers home. Unfortunately, our standard take-home solution of aluminum foil animals just doesn't stand up to soup. Edison began to cry at the thought of being without the deliciousness that she had enjoyed (and enjoyed making!) with her newfound friends. (Don't worry - this story has a happy ending.) We got creative and ended up washing out Edison's milk bottle and filling it with soup. She was just thrilled. And her mom called us the next day to report that Edison ate every last drop of her lucky leftovers and couldn't wait to make it again. Oh the joys of teaching and cooking at The Kids' Table! 

LUCKY NEW YEAR'S SOUP

Ingredients
2 T olive oil
1 small onion, diced
1 stalk celery, washed and diced
1 small carrot, peeled and diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp salt
2 plum tomatoes, diced
1 1/2 cups cooked black-eyed peas, (or one can, drained and rinsed)
2 bay leaves
4 cups vegetable broth
2 cups chopped kale leaves (stems discarded)

Directions
Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat and saute onion, celery and carrot until soft, about 5 minutes. Add garlic, spices and salt to vegetables and saute 1 more minute.  

Add tomatoes, black-eyed peas, bay leaves and broth. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer and cover. Cook for 10 minutes. Add kale and cook an additional 5 minutes. Remove bay leaves, and season with additional salt and pepper to taste.

Makes 4 servings

What kids can do (with appropriate tools and adult supervision)

*Chop veggies (wavy choppers work great for small hands!)

*Mince garlic (again, wavy chopper magic)

*Measure seasonings

*Destem kale & tear leaves

*Taste for seasoning