Vegetable Peek-a-Boo

Day 76.

Do you know a naughty little girl or boy who won't eat vegetables? I know one. He's turning thirty-two years old next month and still has an aversion to things that are good for him. It's hard to set an example for your children when their father turns up his nose at most orange, green, purple, and yellow vegetables. To his credit, he does enjoy peas: the ones that come in a can, anyway.

For Christmas one year, I was given a copy of Jessica Seinfeld's cookbook. You know the one. She hides pureed fruits and vegetables in her recipes. I didn't really like the idea of all that extra work of cooking and pureeing foods ahead of time. And I didn't like the recipes. They weren't my style. So the book went unused.

I took one thing from her, however, and that is that it's good to incorporate "invisible" veggies when possible. This recipe does that with carrots and sweet potatoes.

Hidden Vegetable Beer-Cheese Soup

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup salted butter
• 1 large onion
• 4 carrots
• 1 large sweet potato
• 2 cups broth
• 1 bottle of beer (don't use light beer. An amber brew is good for this, or even a stout)
• 1 tsp each  freshly cracked black pepper and sea salt
• 3 cups of milk, divided
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 3 cups shredded cheddar cheese
• 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella (optional but nice)

How it's Done:

1. Melt butter in a large stock pot.
2. Dice onion. Peel carrots and sweet potato and cut into small chunks. Processcarrots and sweet potato in food processor until they are minced very finely.
3. Add all vegetables to melted butter and saute five minutes.
4. Pour in 2 cups broth. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes to cook the vegetables.
5. Pour in a bottle of beer. Add the salt and pepper. Pour in two cups of milk. Bring to a simmer again.
6. Meanwhile, in a bowl, whisk together 1 cup of milk and 1/4 cup flour. Whisk until smooth. Slowly pour into the heated soup. Cook and stir until slightly thickened, about two minutes.
7. Stir in cheese. Remove from heat. Let the soup sit until the cheese is melted. Stir before serving. Really great when served with Garlic-Parmesan Focaccia!