MAKING MINESTRONE.

Each Thursday we head down the road to our local library to enjoy the family story time. Afterwards, we always trade last weeks stack of books for new ones. Sometimes though, she'll insist on keeping a particular favorite for an extra week or two, especially if it's Cha Cha Chimps or Ella Kazoo Will Not Cut Her Hair. There isn't much rhyme or reason to the titles she chooses, just whatever catches her fancy. And as long as it's not crazy long or beyond her years, I'm game for whatever she picks. Last week she chose this.

A cute little story about growing vegetables, tending to the garden, then picking the produce to make homemade minestrone soup. And at the very end, there was a recipe for how to make it yourself. She'd been asking since the first time we read the story if we could make it. I'm all about trying something new, especially if she expresses an interest in it. A meal full of vegetables that you want to help make, and eat? You got it sister. We went to the grocery store and she helped select all the needed ingredients. She washed her hands and climbed up on her stool. She took pride and care in each task that I gave her.

We washed, peeled, chopped, measured and poured. Then we let it simmer. And when it was done, it looked something like this.

Despite a few things I would tweak if we made it again, it was pretty good. And she mostly ate it, well the potatoes and bread anyway.