In honor of my Grandpa’s 97th birthday, I wanted to make an adaption of one of his favorite dishes, minestrone soup, which I adapted into FODMAP safe recipes. Soups are such a great way to make something delicious and can be so easy to throw together. He also will make soup and bring it over to his friends who live either in nursing homes or live alone as a source of comfort and nourishment.
My Grandpa loves being in the kitchen, messing around, chopping, cooking, baking, etc. What really makes me giggle is on our last trip to Memphis I asked my Grandpa some questions about cooking and he’s so nonchalant about his skills in the kitchen. When my Grandma was alive and as they raised their children, my Grandma and Grandpa held more traditional roles when it came to household responsibilities. My Grandpa doesn’t have much memory of being in the kitchen when my mom was growing up except when it came to helping grate carrots for my Grandma’s famous carrot cake. He would help as my Grandma would not want to damage her nails. My mom also brought up that growing up he would grill on the weekends and on Sunday mornings would make make french toast and read the comics to them…and his reaction was so surprised! He joked that my Grandma had the kids on a tight schedule so by the time he came home, they were almost already in bed. The weekends were where he got to see the kids which my Mom immediately said “that’s not true!” It was so funny hearing the two of them go back and forth.