Sometimes I make a dinner that I know my children won’t eat. For example, tonight we had this lentil sweet potato dish. As much as I try to get my kids to eat “grown-up” food, it doesn’t always work out. On those occasions, I often make this dumpling soup for them. It is simple and nutritious, and they love it. It’s also a nice alternative to a sandwich in their lunch boxes. The dumpling batter is based on a recipe for dumplings in The Joy of Cooking.
Ingredients:
8 cups chicken broth or a combination of water and broth (vegetable broth works too)
1 1/2 cups shredded carrots
2 cups white whole wheat flour
1 tbs. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
3 tbs. butter
1 cup milk
- To make the dough, mix together the flour, baking powder, and salt. In a small saucepan, heat the butter and milk until the butter melts. Add the warm milk mixture to the dry ingredients and mix.
- In a large pot, heat the broth over medium heat. Add 1 cup of the carrots.
- Form ½-inch balls of dough and add them to the pot. Simmer over medium heat for 8-10 minutes. The broth will thicken as the dumpling batter breaks down a bit.
- Divide the soup into four bowls and sprinkle each bowl with the remaining carrots.
Price Breakdown
This recipe yields 8 servings. The total cost is $1.66, or $.21 per serving. That’s about as cheap as it gets. Serve this soup with a salad and some cheese on the side for an easy, child-friendly dinner.
Linking to Mix it Up Monday, My Meatless Mondays, Make Your Own! Monday.
Sounds so comforting, for kids and adults as well
Sometimes it’s easier to make two dinners than to try pleasing everyone with one dish!
I like that tactic, food shouldn’t be forced upon kids (or grown-ups, either!) The first time I had dumplings like this was in the 3rd or 4th grade. We learned the song “She’ll be Comin’ Round the Mountain” and never knew what dumplings were, so a few days later our teacher took us to the school cafeteria where the lunch ladies made a big pot of chicken and dumplings for our class! So we all gathered around and started singing, “Oh we’ll all have chicken and dumplings when she coooomes!” hahaha, that was awesome!
Thanks, Jennifer. I love that memory! It’s great that your school went to such lengths to teach you about food – I can’t picture that happening in a school cafeteria these days.
Music and food…what a great way to teach kids, huh? We didn’t suspect any learning was involved at all!
Thank you for your submission on Nourishing Treasures’ Make Your Own! Monday link-up.
Check back later tonight when the new link-up is running to see if you were one of the top 3 featured posts!