We are John and Chris, adoptive parents of a beautiful child, Sara. We are parents ready to adopt our second child! If you are a birthmother, we would love to speak with you as you think through this important decision. Please also visit John and Chris Open Adoption page.

What we’ve found as adoptive parents is that food can be a real connecting force with children. With our daughter, Sara, and myself and Chris, we value organic, home made food. It’s an opportunity to sit down as a family, take a deep breath, connect, and continue nurturing our family culture.

Living so close to a wonderful food market, where we can purchase fresh, organic food at very low prices, a quick and easy soup to make is vegetable broth. Serve with favorite bread. Because winter is upon us, you can even warm the bread a little. This dish is a great appetizer, first dish, or small meal.

Vegetable broth as a soup is terrific for family! Here’s one way to prepare the soup:

What you’ll need (we use organic for everything):
Stock pot with lid
Strainer
Fresh, filtered water
Almost 2 pounds carrots
One bunch celery
One onion
Salt and pepper to taste
Chopped parsley

How to prepare:

1. Wash everything
2. Peel carrots, slice several times so they are long and chunky
3. Slice celery lengthwise, then cut stalks several times so they fit into pot
4. Discard outer skin of onion and quarter
5. Chop parsley a few times so it fits into pot, and if you can throw the stems away, do so, because too many stems taste a bit bitter.
6. Throw everything in the pot
7. If the vegetables exceed 3/4 of the total space in the pot, consider removing some vegetables, because when you boil, you don’t want the soup to boil over
8. Add water until the water line is under the vegetables by about 2 inches. The reason this is important is because if there is too much water, then the soup will taste watery. It is better for the soup to be more concentrated.
9. Put the lid on, heat to boiling, then turn the heat down to a soft simmer. Have the lid positioned so a little steam escapes.
10. It will take 1.5 to 2 hours for this soup to cook. At about 1.5 hours, you may want to remove the lid altogether, turn the heat up a little. This lets more water evaporate, making a more concentrated veggie soup.
11. Add salt and pepper to taste

Strain the soup when serving to young children. Use judgment when serving to toddlers and younger to prevent choking hazards. Whomever you are serving, know allergies beforehand.

That’s it! That is the vegetable broth soup recipe we like to prepare for our family. Maybe you can prepare it for yourself and see how it works for you.

We are John and Chris, adoptive parents of a beautiful child, Sara. We are parents ready to adopt our second child! We are ready to welcome a brother or sister for our beautiful daughter, Sara. If you are a birth mother, we would love to speak with you as you think through this important decision.

Find more information about us by sifting through this blog, or by visiting our Homepage, at John and Chris Adopt Dot Com.