ABC Vegetable Beef soup is perfect for lunchboxes or a filling dinner… plus its chock full of lutein and nutritious ingredients. Learn all about lutein and why it’s great for your family!
This fall, I’m determined to bring the thermos back (yeah!). The girls really don’t have much time to eat lunch at school and I’d much rather send a filling meal like soup or casserole instead of a sandwich that might get eaten. Do you have any thermos favorite meals? I’m all ears!
When it comes to soup, we make at least 2 batches a week. It’s my go-to for an easy lunch, especially when I was pregnant. This ABC Vegetable Beef recipe is super healthy and filling, perfect for the thermos! In our house, we’ve always had the rule of thought that fruits and veggies are FUN to eat, I never try to hide them. Even my pickiest eater (which can be ANY of my girls at a given time), must try to eat their veggies at dinner. Like Daniel Tiger says “try new food cause it might taste gooood”.
Letting the kids help in the kitchen is a great way to get them to try new things. Olivia despises zucchini, but when we made Strawberry Zucchini muffins together, she actually started liking it more! If your kiddo is picky, give them time with certain items and try to serve veggies in different ways…they might start enjoying it!
Do you know about the benefits of lutein? It’s also called the “eye vitamin”! I recently from the Abbott website and I thought I’d spread the word! Many of the foods you already eat have lutein—so whether you know it or not, you’re already benefiting from it!
Which foods have it? Here are some:
- Leafy vegetables: spinach, kale, romaine, greens
- Zucchini
- Corn
- Carrots
- Citrus: oranges, grapefruit
- Melon
- Tomatoes
- Asparagus
- Beets
Having a lutein rich diet is beneficial for the whole family–it helps enhance learning and memory, plus cognitive functioning. A recent study by Abbott and the University of Illinois at the Center for Nutrition Learning and Memory even showed that 8-9 year old students with lutein rich diets performed better academically, especially on tests.
Since there are so many great fruits and veggies that have lutein, with a bit of effort, it’s really easy to add extra to your diet. I have found that adding chopped spinach to soup broth really enhances the flavor–especially for chicken noodle or veggie soup. We also love to add carrot to sweeten pasta sauces or shred it into meatballs or beef dishes. The possibilities are endless!
We add ABC noodles to our Vegetable Beef soup for a fun factor–who doesn’t like to spell out words during mealtime?! Believe it or not, this soup is full of lutein too! Zucchini, corn, tomatoes, celery, carrots and spinach! The best part of Vegetable Beef soup is you can swap out your favorite veggies or what you have on hand. If the farmer’s market has something delicious looking, grab it!
Packed with vitamins and flavor, this ABC soup is fun for the whole family--plus filling for a lunchbox thermos.
- 1 pound stew beef
- 1/4 cup flour
- 1 Tablespoon Grill Seasoning
- 1 Tablespoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 1 cup chopped white onion
- 2 medium carrots cubed
- 1 medium zucchini cubed
- 2 stalks celery chopped
- 2 cups chopped spinach
- 1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes
- 1 cup corn fresh or frozen
- 8 cups Beef or Veggie Stock
- 1 cup ABC noodles
- 1 Tablespoon Italian Seasoning
- 1 dash Salt + Pepper to taste
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In a medium bowl, add flour and grill seasoning. Mix with a fork to combine. Add beef cubes and toss in flour to coat.
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Heat a pan over medium and add olive oil. (If your slow-cooker has a heat save bottom, feel free to use this. An Instant Pot can be heated to Saute). Add beef and brown on all sides.
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Transfer beef to slow cooker. Add all ingredients, except ABC noodles.
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Cook on HIGH for 4 hours. If you're using an Instant Pot, use the SOUP setting.
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Add noodles. Allow to cook for another 20 minutes, or until tender.
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Optional: add additional chopped spinach in the end.
We love to serve this meal with toasted bread or Mozzarella cheese dippers. To make this lunchbox friendly, simply add to a thermos! In the morning, I heat up the thermos with hot water from a tea kettle. In a separate (pourable) bowl, I reheat the soup. Pour out the water in the thermos and add the soup–it will still be nice and warm by lunchtime!
To save money, we make our own fruit cups for lunches. Our favorite combination is grapefruit, grapes, cantaloupe and strawberries. Serving this with the soup is a perfect, well-rounded meal, plus rich in lutein and other healthy nutrients!
For more information about the benefits of lutein, check out the !
What do you like to pack in your kiddos lunchboxes? Did you know about the benefits of lutein?
This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Abbott.
This is brilliant and very timely. Glad we have the ingredients available at home. Will prepare this vegetable beef soup tonight.