I always look forward to Melissa’s delicious recipes. Today she is sharing with us a soup perfect for the cooler months ahead. It’s also gluten-free, which is perfect for me. I’m putting this on my menu for next week.
There are so many things I love about fall, but my favorite has to be that it is soup weather! I love the smell of having a big pot of soup simmering on my stove top. It’s also easy to sneak in a bunch of healthy vegetables into a soup and my kids will eat them up without complaining. Oh, and I love that one pot of soup lasts for a few meals, and most of the time soup tastes better the next day. There is much to love about soup. I do love a comforting creamy soup now and again, but today I’m going to share one of my favorite healthy soups with you. It is guilt-free, but still SO delicious.
It is a vegetable chicken quinoa soup and it is loaded with veggies! This recipe is easy to adapt to your own tastes, leave out some veggies, add more of others. Do whatever you know your family will like, but it is tasty as is. This is also one that is easy to make vegetarian, just leave out the chicken and switch to vegetable broth. It’s also gluten free. (As long as the chicken broth you use is one that is known to be GF.)
Vegetable Chicken Quinoa Soup
2 Tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 medium carrots, chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
1 small zucchini, quartered and sliced
1 yellow squash, quartered and sliced
1 1/2 cups fresh green beans, trimmed and cut into 3/4 inch pieces
1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breast
1 (15 oz) can petite diced tomatoes
8 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1 teaspoon dried thyme
2 Tablespoons fresh basil, chopped
3/4 cup frozen corn
3/4 cup uncooked quinoa, rinsed
salt and pepper, to taste
Directions:
1. Heat the olive oil in large stockpot over medium-low heat. Once hot, add the onion and cook until tender, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic, and cook for 2-3 minutes. Add the carrots, celery, zucchini, yellow squash, and green beans and continue to cook for 4 to 5 more minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove the vegetable mixture from the pan.
2. Add the chicken to the pan; sprinkle with 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Sauté 6 minutes or until the chicken browned and done. Stir in the vegetable mixture, diced tomatoes, chicken broth, remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt, and remaining 1/4 teaspoon pepper, thyme, and basil and bring to a boil.
3. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes.
Serves 10.
lol, you were throwing me off with that “vegetarian” part! it’d probably still be really yummy, even without the chicken!
Looks so so good! Love soup ideas!