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.
No way…no way..no way…
Me and my partner are the pinky and the brain. I really do no mean to make you two any less original but I had a temporary freak out when I started reading your post. I am the pinky and my partner is the brain and you know what I am totally okay with this because my partner is really very extremely intelligent. Do not get me wrong I am smart too, for instance, he could never ever make this holiday soup for the soul or ultra fudgy gluten free brownies like I can. For that matter or participate in a 30 day bikram yoga challenge, run a half marathon with out any training, cook and bake like I can or even write i cook book :) well of course he could do any of these things if he decided he wanted to (any one can) but he has not yet and I have.
my fellow pinky and the brain.
p.s we have even even you tubed pinky and the brain to watch old episodes and listen to the theme song
hahahah!!! oh man this is hilarious
Your soup looks so good! I love quinoa-lentil soup with curry spices and make it often. This one sounds similar – yet slightly different – so I have no doubt I’d enjoy it as well (this’ll result in yet another entry to my to-cook list ;) ).
Hi Angela! This is the first time I’ve commented on your blog but I’ve been reading for a while. You are hilarious and so talented! This post especially made me laugh because my boyfriend and I call each other “Chickpea” and “Garbanzo” – usually in funny accents. And our Husky definitely has a few different voices – sometimes with a British accent, sometimes Mexican… we’re cool like that. ;-)
Ah, soup! I have been eating soup almost once a day, sometimes both for lunch and dinner! Homemade, store bought/canned, at a restaurant. . . My favorite soups tend to come about by accident — like the chili I added pureed pumpkin to, as I ran out of tomato to thin it: I will now always add pumpkin to my chili.
My husband was also not much of a soup guy, but has gradually started to eat it in various forms. I’m afraid I could never post the things we call one another — after all, the “secret” part of those personal names is a huge part of the fun.
That soup looks really good, and I have almost all the ingredients! I may use some frozen spinach if I don’t end up going to the grocery store tonight. Anyway, my husband and I call each other lots of silly names too, but the most common one is stinky! I think that started b/c we used to call our dog stinky, and then we just started calling each other that. I’ll also call him “stink-o-pottomus”, or “punkin pie”, or some other silly name, but usually stinky.
This soup looks so good. I am going to have to try it as soon as I get a chance!
Haha, my boyfriend and I alwayyys call each other nicknames, I’m almost wondering if he knows my real name ;-)
Usually I call him Big Man, In return get Little Woman, Love Bug, Punkin…
On to the soup! It looks amazing! Do you think it could be made in the crock pot?
I remember animaniacs! My sister and I loved that show!
I call my husband Andy Pants or Mr. Pants, because when we were in middle school (yes, middle school!) I called him and his brother answered. When I asked to talk to Andrew he yelled “Andy Pants!” and gave the phone to Andrew. He calls me Nana because thats what little sister called me at the time.
We are a very goofy couple to and it’s good to know we aren’t alone!
We also own an amazing cat that has a strange habit of sitting across the room from us, watching us and purring. Creep-tastic, no?
omg angela we must be channelling each other- i just was at the store last night and bought literally these same ingredients to make a soup today! ah! yours looks great as always :)
Yum! I can’t wait to make this soup. It looks amazing. My husband and I have many nicknames for each other, but mostly I call him Big Brown Bear and his recent favorite for me is Brown Sugar.
Dear Angela, can we just take a moment to acknowledge your amazing photography?? Seriously.It was amazing before, and just keeps getting better and better!
I love your blog! Sometimes I realize I’ve gone for days without calling my husband by name. Top nicknames for him include Lumpy, Lumpinski, Lumperama, Lumpylumperson, Sir Lumpsalot, and Monkeybutt. I really don’t know how it started. He calls me Munchkin and for a woman who’s usually the tallest woman in any given group it’s pretty funny.
I have to make this soup! YUMMY! I love this time of year for all the thick and hearty veggie soups!
Oh yes, in the 20 years we’ve been together, we have all kinds of goofy names for us and our animals. Between us, there’s mimi, sweet pea, asa, pook, pookster, babe, my love. For our animals, there’s momo, little one, fleaster, fleabone, fleaflea, anni, obobob, studabaker, stewster, hoobastank…and I could go on…LOL!
This soup looks amazing! I love quinoa and black beans and everthing else in ths soup and can’t wait to try. The “print this recipe” button is great. I have a wordpress blog and would love to be able to have “print recipe” button as well – how do you add this? Thanks for the help :)
I am Ninja and he is Sasquatch. I don’t remember how it started, but it’s funny.
omg I would LOVE to be ninja
We have tons of nicknames for each other AND our cats, and the cats each have a voice. One speaks with a lisp, and one is a very high-pitched and whiny voice.
Our dog Sherman definitely has a voice (which sounds like scooby-do when David does it!), and answers to Shermonster, muldoon, pumpkin-patch, pumpkin-pie… and an awful lot more. David calls me bumbee (I have a rather protruding posterior!) but I have yet to discover a suitable nickname for him. I’m glad we’re not the only totally goofy couple out there though – there’s definitely times when Sherman looks at us with complete disdain!
Eric does scooby do too!
I have a dog named Zeus. At first, the nicknames were pretty innocuous (Zeusie, Zeuser, puppy)now…well the most commong ones are sadly zeusie-poo, and sh*t head. The sad thing is- my Dad almost never calls Zeus by anything other than sh*t head, so now Zeus answers to it!
That looks absolutely delicious. *bookmarks
My husband never calls me by my first name unless he’s talking to somebody else and referring to me. He calls me Soets (Afrikaans for “sweets”) or Beautiful. I usually just shorten his name to Arth, and I often use Goggo (Afrikaans for “bug”).
I call my boyfriend Babe, Hubs, or Bambino
He calls me baby, wifey, Bambina or Princess Niki… hahaha