Hey y’all!
Holy cow, sorry that took forever for me to post after my teaser on @yensisters Instagram! Something came up for work and we had to drop off our dad for his business trip to Mexico so now I’m finally getting to complete this post!
I know it’s not winter and soupy cuddly season yet , but I kind of sort of have an obsession with soup so here comes another soup recipe for ya! Crank up that ac when you try this! ☃
We went grocery shopping on Monday with an empty stomach and you know how that goes… our eyes were too big for our stomachs so we stocked up on WAY too much stuff for a “short week”. I say short week because we made plans to go out for lunch and dinner quite a lot this week so we won’t have a lot of opportunity to fire up the stove. What to do with all these veggie? !! VEGETABLE SOUP!! If you were to ask me what my favorite soup was, I would tell you vegetable soup, Minestrone soup, or clam chowder. I know, that’s three but you see how two of them involve A LOT of veggies? So maybe my favorite is just some sort of vegetable soup. What better way to get rid of all your veggies in your fridge than making a soup?! I thought it was a genius idea since I’ve been craving a good comforting soup since I made the Paleo Chicken Artichoke Soup. I had another carton of chicken broth at home and recently stocked up on my herb game with thyme and bay leaves so this was the perfect time to test these new babies out!
I actually wasn’t following a specific recipe this time and kind of just winged it and prayed for the best. I mean you can’t really mess up on soup right? Thankfully it turned out pretty dang delicious so I’m here to share my recipe with you!
Ingredients:
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 yellow onion, diced
4 medium sized carrots, peeled and diced
3 celery stalks, diced
1 zucchini, dice
1 yellow, orange, red, or green bell pepper, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced (you can add more if you’d like but it makes us bloats mcgloats! )
1/2 teaspoon thyme
3 tomatoes, diced
2 cups cooked quinoa
4 cups chicken broth
2 cups water
3 bay leaves
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes (more or less based on your preference)
Salt & pepper to taste
1 can (15 ounces) garbanzo beans, drained
2 cups kale
Instruction:
1. Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the diced onion, carrot, celery, zucchini, bell pepper and a pinch of salt. Cook for 5 minutes or until the onion has turned transluscent.
2. Mix in the garlic and thyme then add in the diced tomatoes and cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring often.
3. Pour in the chicken broth and the water. Add in 3 bay leaves, 1/2 tsp of red pepper flakes or more or less if desired, and salt & pepper. Bring the pot to a boil with high heat, then cover the pot and lower the heat to bring it to a simmer.
4. Cook for 25 minutes, then remove the lid and add the cooked quinoa, garbanzo beans, and kale. Keep it at a simmer for 5 more minutes.
5. Remove the pot from heat and taste to see if it needs more salt & pepper to get it just right! Remove the bay leaves before serving.
6. ENJOY! 
Hope you liked this soupy vegetable goodness on a hot summer day cozied up in your ac’d room! ❄️
xx Elisa