It’s been raining constantly for about three days now. It’s gray, chilly, and all the leaves are now falling off the trees, lying in puddles of rainwater. Whenever the weather get likes this I instantly want a hot bowl of soup. It doesn’t even matter what type of soup, just soup. I like to have soup as dinner, but my husband is under the impression that soup is not dinner. It’s more of an appetizer for him.

Whatever.

At any rate, I wanted to make soup and I wasn’t sure what. Usually I look through all the cabinets and find what I have to put in a soup. Basic soup ingredients include onions, minced garlic, carrots, celery, kidney beans, diced tomatoes, chicken broth, kielbasa, potatoes and lots of herbs, spices and frozen veggies. I like to put everything into a pot and just mix it all together, along with a couple bay leaves, and let it simmer on the stove for about a half hour. Ta da! Instant soup.

But I felt like being adventurous, trying a new recipe. As I was pulling out the ingredients, I noticed a whole bag of quinoa that I’d bought that was still unopened. On the back was a recipe for Sopa de Quinoa (or, literally what I think it means, soup of quinoa). I had almost all the ingredients and it looked pretty easy to make. Yes, I had found my soup recipe for the night.

There were just a few things I didn’t have, so I made some substitutions. Instead of red bell pepper, I used peas. And I also added in some cubed cooked kielbasa, cause I had some, and it’s yummy.  Instead of veggie broth I used chicken broth. And I didn’t have any yukon gold potatoes, so I used a big sweet potato instead.

So I started to make the soup, combining all the ingredients according to the instructions. It started smelling really good as it cooked, and I couldn’t wait to try it. Once it was all done, I took a spoon and ate a mouthful. It was delicious. It was so good my 3 year old even ate it and loved it. And the husband actually had two bowls full.

It was even better for leftover lunch the next day. And lunch today. The broth alone is scrumptious, the tomato juice and chicken broth mixing so nicely. All the spices and flavors mingle together brilliantly.

And I had to share it with you. Because I want you to make this soup and experience what it is to taste really good soup. And I wanted to write to let you all know I’m still here, just haven’t had a chance to write in a while. I’ve been gearing up for Halloween, which is always a big thing in our house. I’ll definitely be blogging next week about my costumes this year.