World Vegetarian Day - Calendar Connection

I love finding holidays that inherently incorporate a food prep activities Our kids love hands on food prep and we are lucky enough to have a partnership that provides a weekly nutrition lesson that often incorporates a food prep component. In our part of the world, many families are still in the "meat and potatoes" mindset that determines a meal based on it's protein (my own family is no different and I can only imagine how they would eat if I weren't constantly asking "Where's the veg?"

To help expand minds (and palettes) we're going to try a few vegetarian recipes as well as to create our own Meatless Monday food prep booklets. Side note: I refer to these activities with our kids as food prep as opposed to cooking so that we can follow a natural progression. Small groups of older kids are allowed to actually utilize heating elements within our kitchen space, but younger kids are not. By using the term food prep, it helps everyone feel included, even though who do not utilize heating elements.

So, for our celebration of World Vegetarian Day, we will be making a simple (but super flavorful) Cheese Tortellini Vegetable Soup inspired by a recipe from Super Healthy Kids. I love a good soup recipe to welcome fall and also to give ample opportunity for lots of kitchen help. There are lots of veggies to chop to practice knife skills, browning to give a chance for heat source use, and lots of measuring for those who aren't quite ready for using heat or sharp objects. When we make this soup at the club I use pre-made, refrigerated tortellini and the flavors are phenomenal.

Of course, every good meal has a little something sweet to wrap it up and we will be finishing up with this no-cook Pumpkin Mousse from Dessert Now, Dinner Later that is dairy free!

Do you participate in Meatless Mondays? What are your favorite vegetarian recipes? Let me know!