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Community Corner

Malibu 'Souper Cooks' at Webster Stir the Pot

Sweet potato soup is a favorite.

If you are a student at , Thursday is your best day.

It's "soup day," and life is good. Let's face it—all is right in the world when there is soup involved.

On soup day, someone's mom has commandeered a humongous stockpot and a burner, and has spent the morning cooking up a big ol' pot of something warm, delicious and comforting in the cafeteria, and then stayed around to ladle it out at lunchtime.

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There is eager anticipation on Thursdays, and the children crowd around the soup station, barely waiting for their turn in line to grab their cup. This isn't official school district soup. You won't find it announced on any SMMUSD printed menu. Instead, it is crafted from a personal recipe, often beloved by the cook's own family, and freely shared.

It's love in a cup, according to Webster moms Stacey Harper and Amy Kijner, who co-chair the Soup Cook project, or "Souper Cooks," as they would like the whole team to be known.   

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The two, friends since their children met in preschool at the , are entering their third year as soup cooks, and finally, they feel like they have the drill down after learning on the job.

"It's so funny, over the last two years, we have had so much happen to us while we made this soup," said Harper, referring to the sweet potato soup as she stirred the pot bubbling with sweet potatoes, onions, leeks, chicken broth and spices such as cinnamon and nutmeg.

The first time they arrived at Webster to make this soup, there were no sweet potatoes in residence, so they had to run to to get some. The second time, there was no broth. One time, the broth was no-sodium stock, and the resulting soup just didn't taste right, that is, until they realized the problem and fixed it with some salt. Another time, the leeks were huge and the soup ended up so oniony it was scary. They fixed that with more maple syrup and milk. 

It's a bit of an effort to convert a recipe that would, say, serve a family of six, to one that will serve 200. Food service professionals at the district have helped them with that. The district also supplies the basic ingredients except for chicken or meat.   

Neither can fall back on a culinary background. Harper, a graphic designer for Fit Pregnancy and Natural Health magazines, and Kijner, a former physician's assistant at Saint John's Hospital, come by their cooking abilities naturally. As Kijner explained, cooking soup for Webster's students gives them "the same warm feeling you get when you feed your own family."

Harper has a son, Garen, in second grade at Webster, and Kijner has Hannah, also in second grade, and Sam, in Kindergarten. Both say their children love to help hand out the soup, and have a sense of pride when they see their moms at the ladle.  

The women enjoy the nakedly honest assessment of the children as well, which ranges from "this is the best soup I've ever had in my whole life!" to "hmmm … you can have it back. I don't like it today."

Kijner particularly relishes the reaction of the older girls. "The fourth- and fifth-grade girls will conference about the soup. Then they'll send a scout over to try it. If that girl says it's good, they'll all come over and get some. It's very funny," she said.

Teachers, staff and parents visiting the campus also queue up in the soup line, as word spreads around campus about the day's offering.

By the time the first lunch shift rolls around, the pair have been at it for 1 1/2 hours. To make this particular soup, they chopped 10 leeks, 10 onions, 10 garlic cloves, and peeled and chopped 30 sweet potatoes. Some 40 cups of chicken or vegetable broth, 16 cinnamon sticks and more than a quart of milk went into it, as well. Harper fished out the cinnamon sticks before Kijner pureed the soup with an immersion blender. 

Here's what the Webster kids have to look forward to on Thursdays, in coming weeks:

Sweet Potato (Stacey Harper); Chicken Tortilla (Amy Spencer); Turkey Chili (Bonnie Bolander); Chicken Matzo Ball (Remy Carroll); Potato Leek (Amy Kijner); Italian Beef Vegetable (Lena Jemelian); Chicken Noodle (Kerie Bobzin); Tomato (Karen Harper) and Chicken Vegetable (Marvy Montes). Are you envious of their Thursday lunches yet? I am!

Harper was kind enough to share her recipe, so even Malibuites not attending Webster can have a pot of this delicious stuff bubbling on the burner.

Soup's on!

Sweet Potato Soup

Shared by Stacey Harper

2 tablespoons butter
1 cup chopped onion
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 leek, chopped (white and pale green parts only)
1 clove garlic, chopped
3 sweet potatoes, peeled and cut unto 1-inch cubes
4 cups chicken stock (or vegetable broth)
1 stick cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup whole milk
2 tablespoons maple syrup
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Melt the butter in a large saucepan.
2. Add the onions and sauté for 5 minutes.
3. Add the celery and leek and sauté for 5 minutes.
4. Add the garlic and sauté for 1 minute.
5. Add the sweet potatoes, chicken stock, cinnamon and nutmeg and bring to a boil.
6. Reduce the heat and simmer until the sweet potatoes are tender, about 20 minutes.
7. Remove the cinnamon stick.
8. Puree the soup with a hand blender or carefully in a blender or food processor in batches.
9. Add the milk and maple syrup and heat through.

Serves 4-6.

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