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White Bean Soup Recipe with Swiss Chard and Quinoa

As we enter fall in New England, days are cooler, daylight is shorter and our desire for comfort food is growing. When we get home from our long crazy work days, I am looking for something that is easy, hearty and healthy.

Most Sundays before we head to the grocery store, we pull out a few cookbooks and look for our meals for the week. We like to plan out our week of...

• What time will you be home?
• What nights are you out?
• Do we have anyone for dinner?

This works well because it allows us to get the ingredients we need and it gives us new recipes to try. The last thing I want to do, at 6 PM, is look at a package of chicken and think, what am I going to do with this?

This white bean soup recipe actually came from Pinterest and I pinned it to my "I want to make this board". I use this board as a resource when I want to try something new without looking through cookbooks. I save everything from simple appetizers to delicious desserts. When I saw the soup, I knew I could make it up ahead of time and use it for dinner or lunches all week. Anytime I can mix beans with tomatoes and quinoa, I know I have a delicious recipe. Add some good olive oil and crusty bread and that's my idea of comfort food.

When I was getting ready to make this soup, I didn't have some of the ingredients, but the great thing about soup is you can improvise. Instead of diced tomatoes, I used whole plum tomatoes. I didn't have kale so Swiss chard worked and I'm sure I could have added spinach as a substitute, too. I may not have had all the herbs and spices but as long as I have dried or fresh thyme, basil or parsley, I know I'll end up with a tasty dish. After years of cooking, these are the little things I can feel confident about when I have a recipe and maybe not all the ingredients. My best advice...try something new, what's the worst thing that could happen? Sometimes the biggest culinary disasters can end up being the best meals or create a few laughs and a quick trip for take-out!

This soup came together easily with a base of carrots, celery, onions and garlic. Add the beans, tomatoes, broth and quinoa and within 30 minutes the dish is ready to serve. This soup is flavorful and I love the quinoa as a substitute for rice or pasta. I have to remember to use different grains in soup, sometimes a small substitution to a traditional soup recipe can give it new life. So, start Sunday off with the ingredients to this recipe. Try making this soup ahead of time, it's just as delicious when it's warmed up a few days later.

If you have any soup recipes that you would like to share, send them over - we love trying something new!

White Bean Soup with Swiss Chard and Quinoa

Adapted from The Simple Veganista

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons of olive oil

1 small medium onion, peeled and chopped into 1 inch pieces

2 carrots, peeled and chopped into 1 inch pieces

2 celery stalks, chopped into 1 inch pieces

2 large cloves of garlic, chopped finely

2 (14-15 ounce) cans of cannellini beans, rinsed

1 (28 ounce can) of whole peeled tomatoes, remove tomatoes and roughly chop

6-8 cups of chicken or vegetable broth

6 sprigs of fresh thyme

1/2 cup of red or white quinoa

7-10 Swiss chard leaves, stalks removed and roughly chopped 

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. In a large dutch oven, over medium heat. Heat oil and add onions. Saute for 3-5 minutes or until translucent. 
2. Add the carrots, celery and garlic and cook until vegetables are tender, about 5 minutes.
3. Add 6 cups of vegetable or chicken stock, beans, chopped tomatoes, quinoa and the 6 sprigs of thyme. 
4. Bring mixture to a boil and then reduce to a simmer for 20-25 minutes or until the quinoa is cooked.
5. If the mixture looks thick, add additional broth.
6. Add chopped Swiss chard and cook for an additional 5 minutes.
7. Add salt and pepper to taste
8. Serve hot with a drizzle of olive oil.

Serves 4-6 people.

Quinoa, Mango and Black Bean Salad - Eating Well

 
Since my daughter, Danielle, graduated from Keene State in May, she has been trying to get me to eat healthier. Most of you know me for having a chocolate chip cookie for breakfast. She was a health and wellness major studying food and nutrition so more healthy cooking will probably be in our future.

Since she gets home earlier than us, she has been cooking some of our meals. She had been craving quinoa but didn't have a recipe. She went on-line and found this dish at Eating Well called Quinoa, Mango and Black Bean Salad. We had most of the ingredients and just needed the quinoa and mango. We doubled the recipe and it fed 5 people as a side dish with enough left for lunch the following day. The salad was easy to put together and tasted delicious with grilled chicken. The quinoa has a nutty taste and when it was mixed with the sweet red pepper and mango, not only was it colorful, but bursting with flavor. The fresh ginger, rice vinegar and sesame oil with the orange juice and scallions, dressed the salad nicely giving it an Asian flavor.

This is one of those side dishes that can be added to a quick dinner or great as a salad for a cook-out. It tastes great warm as well as cold.

1/2 cup quinoa, (see Note)

1 cup water

1/4 cup orange juice

1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

2 tablespoons rice vinegar

2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil

1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger

1/8 teaspoon salt

Pinch of cayenne pepper

1 small mango, diced

1 small red bell pepper, diced

1 cup canned black beans, rinsed

2 scallions, thinly sliced

1. Toast quinoa in a small dry saucepan over medium heat, stirring often, until it crackles and becomes aromatic, 4 to 6 minutes. Transfer to a fine sieve and rinse thoroughly. Return the quinoa to the pot and add water. Bring to a simmer; reduce heat to maintain a simmer. Cover and cook until the quinoa is tender and the liquid has been absorbed, 15 to 20 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, whisk orange juice, cilantro, vinegar, oil, ginger, salt and cayenne in a medium bowl. Add mango, bell pepper, beans and scallions; toss to coat.
3. When the quinoa is finished cooking, add to the mango mixture and toss to combine.

Note:Quinoa, a delicately flavored grain, was a staple in the ancient Incas' diet. Toasting it before cooking enhances its flavor, and rinsing removes any residue of saponin, quinoa's natural, bitter protective covering.