No-Chicken Noodle Soup

This week marks a couple of giant milestones for my 12-year-old daughter, Celia. On Saturday, she will have a bat mitzvah to mark the culmination of her years of studying Hebrew and the beginning of her journey into Jewish adulthood. She will lead the congregation in prayer and chant directly from the Torah, the Jewish holy scroll. She will also provide an interpretation of the section of the Torah that she read to help understand it and relate it to our modern lives.

Preparing for this is a lot of work, and most kids feel a gigantic sense of accomplishment (and relief!) when the day finally arrives. We will celebrate afterward with family, friends, food, and dancing. We are so proud of Celia and how hard she has worked, especially during this last year of intensive study. Andrew and I are also incredibly touched and excited that more than forty members of our out-of-town families and friends are trekking to Maryland to celebrate with us.

This week also marks the one-year anniversary of Celia becoming a vegetarian. Last March, she decided that she didn't feel comfortable eating animals anymore, a decision that surprised us because she had always loved meat. She hasn't eaten any kind of meat since then. We support her at home by providing lots of meatless options for breakfast and lunch, and only having meat for dinner once a week.

Celia has always loved chicken noodle soup. Now that she's a vegetarian, I wanted to come up with a way for her to still enjoy it. It turns out that chicken really isn't essential to a great-tasting chicken noodle soup -- in fact, I think the celery and garlic supply much of the flavor. I hope you'll enjoy this soup that I share in honor of Celia this week. As we say to celebrate happy occasions and wish good luck in the future, Mazel Tov, Celia!