Before we get to this incredible soup, there are a couple things I need to get off my chest.
1) Eric and I have lots of nicknames for each other. Two of our favourites are: ‘Pinky’ and ‘The Brain’.
Remember that show?
Depending on the day, we fight over who is Pinky and who is The Brain.
2) When we are trying to decide what to do at night or on the weekends you can often hear us say to one another,
‘Gee Brain, what do you want to do tonight?’
‘The same thing we do every night Pinky, try to take over the world! muhuauha’
3) We also have a special voice just for Sketchie. You may have heard it at the very end of the video on Sunday.
Eric said (in Sketchie’s squeaky voice), ‘Not impressed’.
We are totally normal.
Last night, Eric said I could be ‘The Brain’ because I whipped up this amazing soup.
I turned Eric, a former non-soup lover, into a soup lover in just over 10 years.
Never say never… ;)
Holiday Soup For The Soul
This is hands down one of my all time favourite soups! Not only does it look festive just in time for the holidays, but it tastes incredible and warms the soul. It packs a wide array of seasonings and spices from cinnamon, nutmeg, and vegetable bouillon, to the saffron and curry. Somehow it just all works together magically!
Inspired by Fat Free Vegan Kitchen.
Ingredients:
- 1 large carrot, peeled and chopped
- 1/2 cup red quinoa, uncooked
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 medium sweet onion, finely chopped
- 1 medium zucchini, chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 vegetable bouillon cube (not low sodium)
- 6 cups water, boiled
- One 15-ounce can diced tomatoes
- 1.5-2 cups cooked black beans (about one 15oz can)
- 1 tsp good-quality curry powder
- Pinch or two of cinnamon
- Pinch of ground nutmeg
- 2 cups baby spinach leaves, well rinsed and roughly chopped
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt, to taste
- Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- Pinch of saffron threads (optional, but tasted amazing)
Directions: Heat the oil in a large soup pot. Add the chopped sweet onion and sauté over medium-low heat until translucent. Add the chopped carrots, chopped zucchini, and minced garlic, and continue to sauté for about 5-7 minutes.
Place your bouillon cube into a medium sized bowl. Boil 6 cups of water and pour over the bouillon cube. Stir well to dissolve. Add bouillon mixture, tomatoes, red quinoa, black beans, and spices + seasonings. Bring to a boil and then simmer gently for 15 to 20 minutes.
Add the roughly chopped spinach, stir well, and cover. Simmer on low for about 15-35 minutes. The longer you cook it the more the flavours will develop. Taste test and adjust seasonings if necessary. I also have a feeling this soup will be even better the next day! Garnish with nuts of choice if preferred.
Makes about 8-10 cups.
Gather up the troops!
This recipe requires a bit of leg work, but the outcome is so worth it!
It took me about 30-40 minutes to prepare (plus cooking time) and that was including my photography, so perhaps a bit less time for you. ;)
These ingredients will keep any seasonal cold at bay!
I really enjoyed the zucchini in this soup. You can add in any veggies you want though.
Chop the onions, carrots, and zucchini…
Caramelize the sweet onion in the olive oil.
Add veggies.
Add everything else…diced tomato, spices, bouillon mixture, quinoa, etc.
I also decided to add a pinch of saffron threads!
I was so glad I did because the saffron tastes amazing in this soup. It is optional though, so not to worry if you don’t have any.
Simmer for about 20-30 minutes or so.
Garnish with toasted nuts if desired.
Serve in a huge bowl.
Eric said, ‘This is the best soup I have ever tasted!’
This soup is not only festive looking, but it is packed with nutrients, extremely flavourful, and perfect for cold and flu season.
I must go now. A chilly outdoor run followed by hot holiday soup awaits me… :)
Ok spill the beans. Do you have any nicknames for your significant other or is there a nickname that your friends or family call you?
We also call each other ‘Snoops’ and ‘Babe’, among other things. ;) I also used to call Eric ‘Snitzlefritz’ and he HATED it, so now I only call him that when I want to annoy him. So about 6 times a day.
Please tell me we are not alone. I will sleep better at night.
Oh goodness, I have so many nicknames! I don’t really have any for my boyfriend. But he calls me AV (anarchist vegan). I’m definitely not but he thought I looked like a super flower child when we met. I am also “little one,” “pixie” and “pea.”
My boyfriend calls me “Pie tin” even though I insist that I am only a “pie” and not a tin. He has threatened to propose marriage by saying “will you be my pie tin?” because he knows I will have to say yes, thus forever committing myself to pie-tinniness.
I needed a holiday soup for a dinner I’m having on Thursday, and then this showed up. It looks amazing!
pie tin??? *swoon
My dream nickname right there. or vita mix.
I sort of get the humor, but I adored this “He has threatened to propose marriage by saying “will you be my pie tin?” because he knows I will have to say yes, thus forever committing myself to pie-tinniness. ” SO ADORABLE!!!! <3
My sisters call me Goober and Goo for short. My husband and I are boring, just the normal honey, although I do call him Honey Bunny, but not it public ;0)
So it IS possible! My husband is also a soup hater, so it’s nice to know that in 7 years he might like it. I’ve been making slow cooked meat and adding more and more water and veggies, hoping he won’t notice that it’s actually stew… then i’ll start taking out the meat… moo hoo haha!
We call each other “schmoop”, but only when we’re alone.
Around other people, it’s “baby”, “sweetie”, or “hon”. Mostly “babe”, though.
That soup looks INCREDIBLE. We’re having a temporary warm flash here in Vegas, but things will be cooling down next week. I love to make (and frezze) huge batches of soup all winter long.
Oh my husband and I totally do this. “Babe” happens a lot as well as “pookie.”
Ok the cheesiest has to be when he comes home and I get super excited. I yell “Boy!!” and he gets a big grin and yells “Girl!!” Yeah, we’re all crazy. ;)
I love that you are both so excited to see each other! – Boy! Girl! is adorable.
Nicknames? Sort of. It’s more that we’re developing a shared language, in which we have weird nicknames for inanimate objects. But we have approximately seven badrillion nicknames for our cat. She probably doesn’t even know what her real name is. We have a voice for her, too. It’s something of a put-upon British duchess voice, if you must know.
This soup looks fan-freaking-tastic. And I have some saffron I’ve been wanting to use for something!!
Now I’m going to have the Pinky and the Brain theme song in my head for the rest of the afternoon…
That soup looks so good! Confession: the Husband calls me Grandma.
Oh yeah, I confirm, you are completely normal! (I used to love that show by the way, in French Pinky was call Minus, and The Brain was Cortex, I still remember the song). You don’t want to know what we call each other sometimes :)
I’ve just had dinner, but this soup makes me want to have a second one!
oh my Cortex sounds even more refined!!!
my dad calls me kater alligator and my grandparents have always called me katiebeth :)
You’re not the only one giving voices to their pets :) Our cats, Gambit has the voice of a mad scientist well Chloe is a femmne fatale with a b*tch streak. We have a ton of nicknames for our pets. Gassy, Stinky, Gambi, Dum dum, Shortround. . .
I call Eric my “old man” since he’s 3 years older than I am. And of course call him luvmuffin, babe, bam bam. . . He calls me Brat or Panda (I wear the panda hat to Giants games).
And the soup will be made this weekend! Looking forward to it.
This soup looks amazing and your story makes me love this blog even more :) My husband and I both call each other “honey” and rarely say each others names. My mom has a million nicknames for me: Lu, Linnie, BooBoo (from Yogi bear), Baba Lu. And I know I’m in trouble when she says Lindsey in that certain tone!
Haha…my boyfriend and I don’t have any cute nicknames for each other. I usually just call him “babe”. When he remembers he calls me Muffin Top. I can’t remember why but he thinks its hilarious, and also OK because I don’t actually have a muffin top. I still don’t think it’s OK.
Oh how I wish you were my neighbor. I’d be at your house all the time trying to bum leftovers!
LOL my BF and I have stupid names for each other too..omg how embarrassing..so in Spanish my name would be Nikita, so he calls me Stinkita. I just call him Meanest because he calls me names like Stinkita, or Stinks for short.
We don’t have cat voices per se, we have voices we use when we talk to them. I can tell which cat walks in the room without looking by the voice he uses to say hi. Yes we’re dorks too. :)
This looks amazing! I literally want to go home and make it tonight. Love that all the ingredients are things I have on hand!
My boyfriend calls me “Pooks” and he thinks it is 100% adorable.
I kind of do too :)
oh you’re not alone. I think my husband and I call eachother by our own name’s about 5% of the time. Things like honey, babe, sweets, lover, lover boy, girl, and such.
That soup looks incredible! Never had soup with quinoa in it before, so I might have to try this one ;).
I was cracking up at your story – I loved Pinky and the Brain! We use the standard “babe” so much that our friends sometimes call us “Babe.” :) I need to hear the Sketchie voice!
This is the first Fall soup I’ve seen with QUINOA! Love it!!
Hahaha oh my god Pinky and the Brain!!! My best friend and I were obsessed with that show! We would wonder the halls of high school muttering those lines Lol our favorites of pinky were “if jimmy cracks corn and nobody cares, why’s he keep doin it?”. Oh and there is one other but I’m totally blanking on it Lol. That totally just brought back so many wonderful memories, so thank you!! :-)
Angela, I can’t wait to make this one! I love all of your recipes, they actually inspired me to add a new goal to my life list: Master 100 Vegan Recipes! I am not vegan but I did recently go vegetarian and my roommate is vegan and I love to cook for a crowd :) Now I just need a good way to chronicle it… maybe via my blog, but a notebook would be so much more sentimental, useful and permanent.
And for the record… I was one of the crazies who has already made the blondies :D
THANK YOU OSG!
love the idea!
My boyfriend calls me Muffins and I call him Hummus (his last name is remarkably similar). In fact, I almost think it’s weird now when he calls me by my real name.
Haha! You are not alone, fear not. My boyfriend occasionally calls me ‘Noodle’, and I call him ‘Tired Puppy’ when he’s exhausted.
LOL! I seriously thought that Brian and I were the only one’s who created a voice for the cat!!! :O lol lol Our cat sounds like she’s from the deep south ;)
your soup looks really pretty Ange… which makes me want to EAT it. Love all the vibrant colors.
As far as my nick name… I’m pretty sure I am too embarassed to post it in the comments, but would be willing to tell just you if you really wanna know ;P HEHE!
Since I was a little girl I’ve been “Bethy Bubbles” or just “Bubbles”. It’s a little mortyfying now that I’m 25 and my dad still calls me that! :)
I have to use my husband’s gamut of nicknames, because if I use his real name he thinks I’m upset with him! Only one of which is Chrissy (real name being Chris).
It’s fun to give the doggies voice-overs sometimes. Especially our pittie because she’s a bossy girl then a love bug.
You are not crazy! Just cute.
i love your term ‘voice over’ makes it sound a bit less crazy haha
Oh, this looks so amazing! I wish I had a vegetable boullion cube and some curry powder. Darn. :P
Oh, this looks so amazing! I wish I had a vegetable boullion cube and some curry powder. Darn. :P Oh, and I definitely have some crazy nicknames. I’m known as “Sissy-Boom” in my house, which was taken from that show The Berenstein Bears, hehe. I used to love Sister Bear. :D
aww that is so cute- sissy bear.
Wow, I just posted a soup recipe today, too!
You photography skills are INSANE! Totally impressed with you blog!
We actually don’t have much for nicknames, however you are not alone in the special voice for your pet! Haha!
We have a special voice for our dog, Bella (whom we also call ‘The Buddy’, ‘Buster’, ‘Bellameister’, etc…!)…and then we call ourselves Crazy Dog Parents!
Aww, nicknames are so endearing!
We call each other pooter and pooper..lovely I know ;)
Ok – I’m soooo glad to read that. We have voices for our 2 cats (they are 1 year old now). Somehow our little girl ended up sounding like Marge’s sisters from the Simpsons – poor little girl!
And recently I was thinking – we have got to stop doing this and talking in cat voices!
Good to know we are not alone!!!!!
The soup looks absolutely amazing –
One question: do you think RED quinoa is the way to go or can I use regular quinoa? I don’t really know if there is a difference in texture, etc…
oh one more thing – just had to say how amazing your photography is getting. You have a really great style and I love how you spill out the ingredients and your placement and the colors – everything has been looking so beautiful lately :)
Thanks!
I love Pinky and the Brain. I spend so much time trying to explain it to my SO, as he didn’t watch it growing up. The first time he asked me what I wanted to do and I replied, “The same thing we do every night, Pinky…try to take over the world!” He just stared at me like I was an alien.
hahahah ouch that one would hurt
Mmm that soup looks so good and perfect for fall! I love zucchini in soup. I’ve called my dad padre and he calls me mija (my daughter in Spanish) ever since I started taking Spanish at my school. My dog is also nicknamed sloogy dog after a fable my mom once read about a dog sneaking up on people and eating their food while they weren’t looking. She definitely lives up to the name too!
Hi Angela…or should I say….the bRaiN?! I’m excited about this soup! Can you tell more about what kind of boullion you use…I’ve tried so many different kinds and I just can’t find one that is really satisfying. Thanks!
You are just so festive lately. Can’t wait to see what you come up with as we get closer to the holiday’s.
I’ve always wanted to play around with saffron!
I just love how beautiful the red quinoa makes everything look
My husband calls me Beaker when I nag at him (as in Beaker from the Muppets, cuz he claims all he hears is “mimimimimi!” or whatever that sound is that Beaker makes).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAtBki0PsC0
LOLLLL!!!!!! hahaha
this is cracking me up! =D
I’m surprised my husband hasn’t come up with this one!
I can’t stop laughing!!!
I’m not usually a soup fan because so often they lack substance, but this one looks so filling!
My parents always used to (and sometimes still do :P) call me “Munchkin”. Hence the blog name!
yea it is very filling! and chewy :)
My nickname from others is wink wink (Winkle was my maiden name ) The only none creative name I call my husband is honey bunny :)
LLLOOLL I’m having so much fun reading all the comments! I had to go back and listen to Eric say “Not Impressed” in a cat voice haha (and watched your bloopers for like the 5th time, ahahahahah!!). We do cat voice over here as well although we’ve never had a cat (!?)… I think it comes from this : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eV71mpbvl-g
My boyfriend and I are both cartoon fans (esp. The Simpsons) and so we’ve been calling one another Wiggy since forever (it started with Wiggum (Ralph). It’s now branched out to Wig, Wigwig, Wigwam, Wigmonster, Wiggamajig, Wigbobette (panties in french!), Wigface, Wigpuppet, Wiggles, Wiggler, Wigglechomp, etc….
LOL @ that video!!!
This is such a cute post, and a great recipe to boot. (I just smiled when I typed that, thinking about how it rhymes with your cute pronounciation of “about.”)
My husband and I have nicknames for each other and just about everything else in the world. He calls me Kitten and I call him Monkey. Our 12yo dog, Rigel (rhymes with Nigel), is The Headless Hound, Doodlebug, Doodles, D-Buggs, Squeaks McGee, Senior, etc.
Our new puppy, Gemma, is Gem Squash (my husband is from South Africa, where Acorn Squash are called Gem Squash), G-Squash, Junior, The Snapping Turtle, The Houndette, The Flying Piranha, Land Shark… And so on and so forth.
Thanks for a great post and fun discussion. :)
aboooot?!? noooooo ;)
Lol, Nicknames…yes….
But I laughed harder at the special voice for the kitty! We totally have a special voice for our dog Hudson, and we are thinking of starting a youtube channel for him…it is so funny :)
Great looking soup doll!
xxoo
“Bubba.” I call him “Bubba.”
I’m so glad I’m not the only person who likes nuts in soups. People look at me like I’m crazy when I do.
My sister just introduced me to your blog and I have quickly become obsessed…maybe a little addicted :). As a senior finishing up my Bachelor’s degree in Communication Studies, I’m itching to get through graduation and into the world of writing. Your blog is so inspiring!
My boyfriend, endearingly, calls me “Grumpy Bear” or “Goober Bear.” He found out that I liked the Care Bear, ‘Grumpy Bear’, when I was younger, and as I may or may not have a habit of being grumpy early in the morning or after a long day of school…he thought the nickname was fitting. The “goober” came from my inner geek shining when I’m around him…I guess that’s a good thing, right :)?