Mouse Soup Recipe
No mice were harmed in the making of this recipe. :) Inspired by Mouse Soup by Arnold Lobel
Another Speech in the Kitchen recipe! This is a recipe from our “Family Dinner” section of the Read, Talk, Play Book Guides. For even more book guides, join the book club! Stay tuned for more book-based recipes to bring to your next speech session or practice time at home soon.
No, this is not actually a mouse soup! In the story the mouse asks the badger to get a nest of bees, mud, stones, ten crickets, and a thorn bush. We’ll gather items to represent each of these piece of the story, and we’ll end up with something close to a delicious potato soup!
Book Pairing:
Mouse Soup by Arnold Lobel
From the Max the Brave by Ed Vere Book Club Guide
Ingredients
6 slices of bacon, cooked and chopped OR edible crickets 😅
3 tbsp butter
1 yellow onion, chopped
2 large cloves of garlic
1 tbsp honey
1 can creamed corn (14.75 oz)
1/3 cup flour
3 cups chicken broth, cooled
2 cups whole milk
2 bay leaves
1 tsp fresh rosemary
1/4 tsp poultry seasoning
1/2 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
Salt and pepper to taste
1/8th tsp cayenne powder
2 lbs gold potatoes, cubed
Optional toppings: sour cream, colby jack or other cheese, green onions
Steps
Just like the badger from the story, gather your ingredients! Kids can participate in gathering those included in the story: bees (honey), stones (potatoes), fresh rosemary (thorn bush), crickets (chopped bacon as our protein here, or feel free to top this soup with edible crickets for another adventure!). Stay tuned for the mud, that comes later.
Grab your Dutch oven or soup pot and set stove heat to medium. Add 3 tbsp of butter to the bottom.
Add onion to the pot and brown, stirring often so it does not burn (around 3-5 minutes). Once browned, add garlic and honey and cook for 30 to 60 seconds.
Add flour, onion powder, garlic powder, poultry seasoning, cayenne and rosemary, and cook until it no longer smells like raw flour - around 2 to 3 minutes.
Add cool/cold chicken broth to the pot slowly, and stirring constantly. You want the flour to mix with the broth until smooth.
Add the potatoes, milk, creamed corn and the bay leaves and cook until the potatoes are tender (about 10-15 minutes). You should be able to easily pierce them with a fork. Make sure you are stirring occasionally to keep ingredients together and not sticking to the bottom.
Reduce heat to low, and let simmer…here comes the mud!
Remove the bay leaves. Grab your emersion blender, and blend the soup until smooth and creamy. I like to remove a few ladles of soup and potatoes BEFORE I do this and add them back in at the end for more texture, but you can choose to blend all of it if you prefer. (You can also use a blender and blend half of the soup and keep the other half in the pot if you do not have an emersion blender). You have created the “mud” texture! :)
Add most of your cooked, chopped bacon and stir to combine. Let simmer for around 15 to 20 minutes to let all the flavors combine (add salt and pepper as needed).
Then ladle into bowls and top with your preferred toppings before serving.
Enjoy!