Rice Soup with Veggies

For the past few weeks we had an unusual cold weather here in Los Angeles and I totally lost my voice right before Christmas (not the perfect time of the year, I know…). It is not back 100% but at least I can communicate without using sign language 😉

The kids have been kind of amused by this “silent mom” situation and little Alex keeps whispering to me like he needs to use a lower voice just because I do not have any, LOL!

Maybe because of the weather, maybe because of my voice, I’ve been cooking warm comforting soups for days mixing and switching all the fresh vegetables I could find at the farmers’ market, adding either pasta or rice or orzo or millet or glass asian noodles to give a nice variety to our meals.

Today I’m sharing a super green, crunchy and earthy Rice Soup loaded with greens (kale, green cabbage, broccoli, red cabbage, brussels sprouts), simple and delicious. It’s one of my “double” recipes: both for babies and the whole family.

If you are cooking for a baby too simply:

• do NOT add any salt to the recipe.
• once cooked, remove the baby portion.
• Puree the baby portion with an immersion blender or a blender and serve warm with 1 teaspoon of grated Parmesan cheese and one teaspoon of good Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• adjust with salt the remaining portion for the whole family and serve warm with one handful of grated Parmesan cheese and a drizzle of goof Extra Virgin Olive Oil on top of each portion

I would suggest this recipe for babies starting from 8 months simply because the amount of fibers in the recipe might be a bit too much for a 6 months baby’s digestive system.

Which kind of rice? I used Arborio rice, imported from Italy, the same one that I use to make risotto. The rice grains are very starchy so they get very creamy and soft once cooked….perfect for my soup!!

You can use any other rice variety you like, I would suggest brown rice for babies.

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Rice Soup with Veggies

Ingredients

• 8 Cups chicken broth - for babies without salt (2 lt.)
• 16 oz. mixed greens - kale brussels sprouts, broccoli, green cabbage, red cabbage (450gr.)
• 1 leek
• 2 carrots
• 1 Cup rice 200gr.
• 1 Tbsp minced parsley
• 1 Tbsp grated Parmesan cheese for each portion
• 1 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil for each portion

Instructions

1. Chop the greens in small stripes, grate the carrots, slice the leek thinly
   
2. 
3. 
4. Place 1 ladle of chicken broth in a big pot
   
5. Turn the heat on and warm the broth for 1 minute
6. Add the carrots and the leek and sauté for 3 minutes
   
7. Add the greens and the remaining broth, stir
   
8. When the soup starts bubbling, reduce the heat and simmer uncovered for 20 minutes
   
9. Add the rice and cook for 15 min (or follow the cooking time on the rice packaging)
   
10. When the soup is ready, mince some fresh parsley and add it to the mix
    
11. 
12. If you are serving the soup to a baby, remove a small quantity and puree it with an immersion blender.
13. Serve warm with some grated Parmesan cheese and a drizzle of Olive Oil on top.
    
14. If you are serving the soup to the whole family, once removed the baby portion, you can adjust with some salt.
15. Enjoy!!