Chicken Quinoa Vegetable Soup

No doubt, the brutal cold and snow that we have been having for the last couple of weeks calls for lots of layers of socks, long underwear, sweaters, shirts, jeans, leggings, hats, gloves, mittens, hats,  scarves, coats, and boots, just to step outside.  Besides clothes you need soup, lots of warm, yummy soup. There is nothing like soup to warm your body and your soul.  I love soup, and eat  a lot of it, especially this winter. I also love to make soup, and I'm always looking for new additions to my soup recipes.

I had a go to Chicken Provencal  soup recipe to which I added Quinoa, which is a favorite of mine now, and more vegetables, and came up with Chicken Quinoa Vegetable soup, which is a winner. You can use a rotisserie chicken, or simmer some chicken breasts on the stove.  I sauteed carrots and onions, added the uncooked quinoa, chicken stock, canned, diced tomatoes, simmer to let the quinoa soften, and then added broccoli florets, cooked chicken, and baby spinach at the very end, and in a short time you get a hearty meal in a bowl the lots of protein, and vegetables, and very low in fat and sodium.  It's MMMM good.

The beauty of this recipe is that you can use any spices you like Italian, Herb de Provence, Cajun, etc. You can also switch up the vegetables and use green beans, peas, mixed vegetables, corn. to make it your own. If you don't like quinoa, use can add noodles or small pasta.  This soup can be vegan by omitting the chicken and replacing the chicken stock with vegetable stock.  If you don't like onion, don't add it. It would be nice to use all fresh vegetables, but here in Illinois, we are in the middle of the Polar vortex here, so I had to use canned tomatoes, and some frozen vegetables.

As you can see, I have snowman dishes, which make their appearance after Christmas.  I not only have complete set of snowman dishes with mugs, but I have Dept. 56 Snow Village, which I leave up until the end February, snowman sweaters, stuffed snowmen, snowman figurines,  and many and many other items in the house.  It seems if you live in the Midwest in the winter, you embrace the snowman. We don't have any snowman decorations outside at Christmas.  Do you have any winter decorations that you leave up all winter in the house?

Chicken Quinoa Vegetable Soup

 Inspired by Food Network
Serves: 4 

 Ingredients:

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium onion, sliced
2 cups roughly chopped carrots
1 teaspoon Cajun seasoning, plus more for topping favorite seasoning
1 cup quinoa
1 quart fat-free low-sodium chicken broth

1 14 oz can diced tomatoes

2 cups water

salt and pepper
2 cups chopped broccoli florets or, green beans, peas, or corn  
2 1/2 cups shredded rotisserie chicken or two large chicken breasts, simmered and chopped
1 cup baby spinach, torn

Directions:

Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the onion, carrots and Cajun seasoning and cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are slightly soft, about 4 minutes.

Stir in the quinoa, then add the chicken broth, tomatoes, 2 cups water, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and pepper to taste. Partially cover and bring to a simmer, then reduce the heat to medium and cook until the quinoa starts to soften, about 12 minutes. Add the broccoli, or other vegetables, except spinach, and cook, uncovered, until just tender, about 5 minutes. Add the chicken and stir to warm through. Season with salt and pepper. Add torn spinach and stir, just till wilted.

Ladle the soup into bowls.  Enjoy!

*** This soup is very thick if you have leftovers, and want to serve it later.  If so, I would add more chicken stock or water as you are re-heating until desired consistency.




l linked up my recipe to Brandie@The Country Cook's Weekend Potluck #100
 Stop by and say Hi to Brandie!