Surprise soup!

LaurieLovesLearning

The youngest two made Butter Soup today with purple potatoes. Then when they added dumplings, it made a chemical reaction to make bright green soup. Lunch & science all in one.

Torey

Very cool!

I like the way purple mashed potatoes turn a lovely lavender shade when you add sour cream to the mix. Or mayo in purple potato salad.

JennyT Upstate South Carolina

You can't say it isn't pretty, with all the different colors. Those are the best kind of meals, ones with a lot of colors.😊

vickeym

Have to ask, what is butter soup?

LaurieLovesLearning

@vickeym Butter soup is a simple soup, similar to a potato soup, yet still different. It is a Mennonite recipe, made with inexpensive & generally available ingredients of the time of hardship (potatoes, water, simple spices, butter & cream). Of course, this recipe would have been made in large quantities because families were very large. I got this recipe as a passed down recipe.

It would be considered by some very bland, but I consider it a flavorful comfort food.

BUTTER SOUP (serves 2)

2 c. water (or whey)

1/4 large onion

1 medium potato

Parsley

Bay leaf

Pepper & Salt, to taste

Boil until potatoes are done. Add butter & cream.

Dumplings:

1 c. Flour

2 tsp. Baking powder

Salt

1 Tbsp. Butter

1/2 c. Milk

Mix, drop in soup or stew. Cover & boil hard for 12 minutes.

Variations (variations are plenty with Mennonite recipes...it was whatever was on hand) & notes:₩

• I find that I need to add more water

• I have added green beans or carrots when I feel like it

• real bacon pieces taste good in the soup

• sorrel leaves (I knew these as sour leaves or "zurrumph") are good in the soup as is summer savorywhich are common in the culture's soup

• good served with leftover ham

annbeck62

Great way to encourage kids to eat more vegetables :)

LaurieLovesLearning

@annbeck62 I am thankful that I don't have a problem getting the kids to eat vegetables. They eat things most kids (and many adults) would turn their noses up at.

They were pretty impressed with their soup.

SuperC

@LaurieLovesLearning Can the salt be omitted if using salted butter?

LaurieLovesLearning

@SuperC I suppose it could be done. The salt content is to taste. I tend to just add it until I feel it has enhanced the soup. Without the salt, it is quite bland. I've often just put salt on the table for those who wish to have more added, because, of course, everyone's tastes are different.

The salt in the dumplings gives them a better flavor, just as it would in biscuits.

The amount of butter added to the soup itself is also whatever you are comfortable with. I've always used salted butter because that just how our family does things.

The recipe is pretty flexible.

The main thing is it is inexpensive, easy, simple, & fast and fills the belly.

If you have access to whey from cheesemaking, that is another way to boost the protein level & filling power of this or any soup.

water2world

@LaurieLovesLearning Oh I want to borrow your children! In case it doesn't work out, I copied the recipe! Thanks!!

marjstratton

Interesting, I've never heard of Butter soup. I'll have to try it. I'd guess that it is the baking powder in the dumplings that would cause the color change. Cool experiment for the kids!

LaurieLovesLearning

@marjstratton That's exactly what happened. Of course, that color change doesn't happen with regular potatoes. 😄

vickeym

@LaurieLovesLearning I have a question about the recipe...

"Mix, drop in soup or stew. Voters & boil hard for 12 minutes."

Are we cooking voters now? lol

LaurieLovesLearning

@vickeym Haha. I'll have to change that. My spell check loves to put odd words in my mouth. Sometimes it is entertaining, sometimes not. In fact, it replaced some of my words with odd ones FIVE times within the first two sentences (not the rest, thankfully. I do try to spell check before hitting send). It's nonsensical & crazy! I've had it completely change a word as I hit send too. I see the correct words, hit send, and there it is...a completely off the wall word in what I typed...or other times, it leaves a word that very much needed a spell check because it isn't a word!

I think the spell check creators need to go to spelling school & also figure out how context might be helpful. I think it gets worse with each update.

By the way, I must have hit a "v" instead of the "c". So it chose "voted" rather than "covered". 🤦‍♀️

jowitt.europe

@LaurieLovesLearning it is nice when children cook, even when one has a colourful result. Good that you encourage them. My grandchildren are also excited when they may cook for us. So far we have survived their culinary experiments very well 😊

Lisa K

Very cool! To me cooking is like gardening ... a big experiment 😃

JodieDownUnder

@LaurieLovesLearning this doesn’t surprise me in Laurie’s home science classroom!!

LaurieLovesLearning

@JodieDownUnder We rarely have dull moments around here. It's always one thing or another going on.

Lisa K

When I was growing fractions were not easy, that is until I started to cook and especially bake, that is when fractions became easy.

LaurieLovesLearning

@Lisa K Our kids have been baking since they were very young. This made it very easy to explain fractions. It helps that review happens fairly often as baking continues around here.

vickeym

@Lisa K That is also when I finally understood fractions. Math was never my best subject. I could do the basics fine, but when we got to fractions or started using letters instead of numbers... I was totally lost. Could not grasp even the slightest concept very well.

Lisa K

I personally think schools should teach more real-life applications when teaching certain subjects such as math.