Farmers Market Vegetable Quinoa Soup
Healthy Fresh Vegetables, nutritious Quinoa and Protein packed Beans, make this hearty Farmers Market Vegetable Quinoa Soup a wholesome meal in a pot. Warming on cool fall days, great for quick lunches or easy dinners and a terrific way to celebrate the end of harvest season.
I love a good pot of soup this time of year! It’s so warming and so comforting! This Farmers Market Vegetable Quinoa Soup is precisely that – comfort in a bowl. Inspired by the end of growing season, which was evident at my last visit to my local outdoor market, this soup combines fresh produce, including fall squash, with a few pantry staples to make a pot of wholesome goodness. Living in Chicago the Farmers Market is a June-October operation. This time of year the offerings change from summer berries, peaches and juicy tomatoes to crisp apples, winter squashes and autumnal mums. I love it! The changes of autumn!
Walking around the vendor tents a butternut squash first caught my eye. Some crusty bread from the French bakery was enticing. Then I saw some lovely kale, bright bunches of celery and yellow onions. What a better way to celebrate the end of the Farmers Market Season than with a meal serving up all these flavors!
This Farmers Market Vegetable Quinoa Soup is so amazing because it’s a meal in a pot. It heats well, making for perfect lunches or dinners throughout the week. It’s warming when it’s cool outside. It freezes well if you wish to meal prep. It’s also extremely versatile – you can substitute produce, tomato products and beans as needed.
Enjoy! And if you like the recipe, please share on Pinterest, or snap a photo of your creation and tag me on Twitter, or Instagram!
Farmers Market Vegetable Quinoa Soup
Equipment
- 1 Dutch Oven
- 1 Wooden Spoon
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp Butter
- 3 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 1 Onion yellow, medium, diced (1 cup)
- 3 Stalks Celery diced (1 cup)
- 1 Cup Carrots diced
- 1 Zucchini medium, diced (1.5 cup)
- 2 cup Kale chopped
- ½ Butternut Squash diced (1.5 cup)
- 5 Garlic Cloves minced
- ½ tbsp Dried Thyme
- 2 14.5 oz Cans Whole Tomatoes
- 32 oz Vegetable Broth
- 1 16 oz Can Kidney Beans drained, rinsed
- 1 cup Quinoa rinsed
- 1 cup Water
- 2 Bay Leaves
- Salt and Pepper
Instructions
- Dice your onion, celery and carrots to roughly the same size. Dice 1 medium zucchini. Mince 5 cloves of garlic.
- Over Medium Heat, melt 1 tbsp butter and warm with 3 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Add the onion, celery and carrots, and cook low and slow for about 8 minutes, using a wooden spoon to stir. Do not brown.
- While vegetables are cooking, peel the butternut squash, and cut it in half. Using a spoon remove seeds and pulp in the cavity. Dice half of the squash, or about 1½ cups squash.
- Add zucchini and butternut squash to pot and cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Add garlic along with 1 tsp salt, ½ tsp black pepper and ½ tbsp dried thyme. Stir to combine. Allow garlic to cook for about 1 minute.
- Add 2 cans whole tomatoes and their juices, using a wooden spoon to break up the tomatoes. Diced tomatoes may be substituted.
- Pour 32 oz vegetable broth into pot. Pour in rinsed quinoa, 1 cup water and 2 bay leaves. Stir. Cover with a lid and allow to boil for 25 minutes.
- Turn off heat. Remove lid. Add drained and rinsed kidney beans and 2 cups chopped kale. Return lid to pot and allow kale to wilt for 5 minutes.
- Once wilted, stir soup. Adjust salt and pepper to desired flavor. Serve with crusty bread and parmesan cheese.
