Recipe: Kale & Quinoa Soup

I made this soup yesterday for dinner.  Our good friends just moved on the weekend and we had them over for supper.  I served the soup with salad and garlic bread.

Everyone loved it, so I thought I'd share it while it's fresh in my memory.

This was based on a soup I found online, but I added a few changes of my own.

There seems to be a lot of hype about Kale these days.  It's some kind of super food.  Apparently I'm behind the times, because I have never bought or cooked with kale, ever.  But now I've tried it in both soup and salad and I love it!  It's so tasty.  I'm going to try it in smoothies next.

Kale & Quinoa Soup

2 Tbsp olive oil
1 onion, diced
2 extra large carrots, diced
4 gloves garlic, minced (you can add less, if you don't love garlic)
a few sprigs of fresh thyme (dried would work too)
1 tsp dried rosemary (fresh would work too)
2 tsp dried parsley
3/4 cup quinoa (rinsed)
8 cups vegetable stock
1 big bunch of kale, chopped (remove the stem parts)
2 cans of white kidney beans
2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
salt & pepper to taste

Saute the onions and carrots in olive oil.  When they are a bit brown and starting to be tender, add the garlic, thyme, rosemary, parsley and stir well.

After 1-2 minutes, add the quinoa.  Let it saute for another minute, then add the stock.  Bring to a simmer, then add the chopped kale.

The kale only takes about 5-7 minutes to cook on low heat (it will turn a darker shade of green).  While it is simmering, drain your 2 cans of white kidney beans. One can is to go straight into the soup.  Dump the other can of beans into a bowl and mash them up with a potato masher or fork.  Then stir into the soup (this adds a nice texture to it).  Stir in the balsamic vinegar.

Take out the thyme stems.  Season with salt & pepper.

Enjoy!