Soup for the soul

So, in my culinary endeavors I decided to make a soup that I knew would push Emma's taste palette (well she really just loves simple tomato soup and borscht soup). So I cooked up this southwestern bean soup with shredded chicken.

Emma was a good sport. Looked at her bowl of deliciousness and said, "Well, Mommy, it looks weird and doesn't smell so good, but I'm going to try it!" That's all I wanted. Good job keeping an open mind.

She tasted it and said, "Okay, so if this (thumb up) means good, and this (thumb down) means bad - your soup is uuuhhh .... (her thumb straight to the side slowly slumping down a bit) OK, so it wasn't her favorite thing, but she ate it.

The next morning we were watching our usual morning news while getting ready and having breakfast. There was a report on how the global number of children living in hunger has gone up. We empathized a bit with how it would feel to always be hungry. Suddenly, a light lit up in Emma's eyes. "Mommy, I wish there was a way for us to help -- I wish we could figure out a way to send the children your soup!" I smiled and said, "That would be a great thing. But for now there will be left overs for us to eat." The light in her eyes was not quite as bright as just moments ago... :)