Hearty, healthy, and delicious minestrone soup with quinoa – an easy-to-prepare vegetarian and gluten-free soup recipe.
One thing I don’t talk about on here very much is where I’m from.
If you’ve been lurking around my site for quite some time, you know that I grew up in Lake Tahoe, where cutting out of school early to go skiing is not only acceptable, but it is encouraged.
And you can get P.E. credit for it.
In the small, almost too cozy town I grew up in, seeing my teachers and coaches on the chairlift or mountain biking trails is commonplace, and secrets are simply a luxury you just do not have.
Tahoe residents have long-standing “you know you’re from Tahoe when. . .” jokes. For instance, you know you’re from Tahoe when…
- Your idea of a traffic jam is three cars lined up behind a snow plough
- “Hucking the palisades” is a real life phrase. And you use it. Regularly. Similarly, “shredding the gnar” is also a real life phrase. You do this regularly.
- You can’t make it out of the grocery store in less than 1 hour because you’re bound to run into at least 10 people you know.
- You’ve dated at least one pro skier or mountain biker. Or you are a pro skier or mountain biker.
- You and all of your friends make each other beanies for Christmas. Because you’re broke. And your head is cold.
- You’ve biked Big Blue.
- You are the proud 3rd owner of a 1998 Subaru Outback.
- The population of the town you live in is lower than the elevation.
- You’ve zip-lined across more lakes than most people have been to.
- Your level of awesomeness is commensurate with the height of the cliffs you’ve jumped.
- You can guess which of your friends caused the power outage by crashing into the pole with their bald-tired 1998 Subaru Outback.
Which brings me to my next point: power outages during huge snow storms are a frequent occurrence.
Being stuck at home because someone ram-rodded the power lines, and you can’t trudge through the 4 feet of snow to your car, much less un-bury your car, much less drive your car, much less park your car, in order to get from point A to point B, is to be expected multiple times per winter.
During these times, it is important to have a stash of candles and non-perishable food.
Welcome to Tahoe Survival Guide 101.
Growing up in a house with a well-prepared mountain dad meant we always, always had enough food in the pantry for our family to survive a nuclear holocaust….or an extremely large snow storm or power outage.
During these days of inclement weather when it wasn’t safe to leave the house, we’d break out the canned veggies and make a big pot of soup or stew.
Canned vegetables and soup fixings not only got us by the cooped up days, but they welcomed us and warmed our bellies after a long day on the mountain.
Aside from being immobile during certain times of the winter, it can be also be difficult to find good fresh produce at the store.
If you stock your cupboards with your favorite canned tomatoes and veggies so that you can not only eat when you’re hauled up in your cabin, but eat well, you’re one step ahead of your neighbor, who is, no doubt, eating saltines covered with grape jam.
Because I’m huge on soup, especially during the snowy winter months, I love having a stock of canned food to facilitate my feeding process.
Girl gets hungry after shoveling snow for half the day. I use diced tomatoes in my soup and chili recipes as opposed to fresh tomatoes because they save time, and I like the texture and flavor they bring to soups.
Finding fresh green beans at my grocery store can be hit or miss, so I used canned to make this minestrone soup happen.
Traditional minestrone soup includes pasta noodles, but I replaced the noodles with quinoa in order to keep the soup gluten-free.
You can easily re-tradition this recipe by adding noodles and skipping the quinoa.
More Healthy Soup Recipes:
- Vegetable Coconut Curry Soup
- Creamy Carrot Soup
- Immunity-Boosting Turmeric Soup with Vegetables
- Creamy Vegan Mushroom Soup
And that’s it, folks! Enjoy your cozy, healthy winter soup!
Minestrone Soup with Quinoa
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 yellow onion chopped
- 2 carrots peeled and chopped
- 3 stalks celery chopped
- 2 red potatoes chopped
- 6 cloves garlic minced
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- ¼ teaspoon dried thyme
- ½ teaspoon ground sage
- 2 14.5 ounce cans Diced Tomatoes
- 6 cups low sodium vegetable or chicken broth*
- ½ cup dry quinoa
- 1 rind parmesan cheese optional
- 1 14.5 ounce can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 14.5 ounce can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 14.5 ounce can Cut Green Beans, drained
- ½ teaspoon salt or to taste
Instructions
- In a large stock pot or Dutch oven, add oil and heat to medium. Add the chopped onion and sauté until fragrant and softened, about 3 minutes.
- Add the carrots, celery, and red potatoes. Continue sautéing, stirring frequently, until vegetables have softened, but are still al dente, about 8 minutes.
- Add the garlic and spices and sauté another 1 minutes.
- Add the diced tomatoes, chicken broth, quinoa, and parmesan cheese rind. Bring the soup to a full boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer. Cover the pot and cook for 30 minutes or until vegetables are cooked through and quinoa is cooked.
- Add the 3 types of beans and cook an additional 8 minutes.
- Remove the parmesan rind (or leave it in and eat it).
- Test the soup for flavor and add desired amount of salt.
- Serve with crusty bread and shredded parmesan cheese
I like canned beans and tomatoes
2nd entry tweet https://twitter.com/LuLu_Brown24/status/420267519727771648
jslbrown_03 at yahoo dot com
I like to keep green beans, corn, tomatoes, and peaches in my pantry.
jslbrown_03 at yahoo dot com
I ALWAYS have DelMonte canned sliced peaches in lite syrup on hand. Also diced tomatoes. Canned peaches make a Great lunch when you are snowed in and have no food!
I like to have canned tomatoes, tomato sauce and paste, kidney beans, black beans, garbanzo beans, green beans, low sodium chicken stock, pears, apple sauce, fruit cocktail, pineapple and cans of premade soup and chili if I don’t feel like making any of my own. 🙂 There’s so much you can do with all of the above!
I also appreciate the convenience and taste of canned diced tomatoes in my soups– so those, and canned pineapple. Ya never know when you might want to throw them into a dish to give a nice sweet flare!
I keep the petite diced tomatoes on hand, because I’m ok with tomatoes, but don’t want a large bite of them. I like the quinoa addition!
I buy canned tomatoes, stewed tomatoes, , tomato sauce, and tomato paste all in bulk — I use them so often! but my favorite is no-salt canned corn. It tastes like fresh corn and has a phenomenal texture.
Love a big pot of soup on cold days. My favorite veggies to have on hand in cans are diced tomatoes and corn. Both work great for my go- to crockpot meal, chili.
tweeted https://twitter.com/cjsorel/status/420243588296228864
green beans, corn and peaches in juice are always kept
I somehow always seem to have kidney beans on hand, and artichoke hearts. Love this soup, girl! Someone get me a bread bowl. 😉
Great minds totally thinking alike this week…I have minestrone lined up for later in the week AND also used my Thanksgiving turkey stock 🙂 Love your version, and especially the addition of quinoa!
I know what I am making for dinner tonight!! So comforting and healthy!
I always have canned tomatoes; diced, whole, and crushed on hand! I also keep plenty of black olives and artichoke hearts in my pantry just in case I get a salty craving. I am loving how you replaced the noodles with quinoa. I have to try this. Minestrone is my fave soup!
I like to keep canned diced tomatoes and canned pineapple chunks (in water) on-hand, in the pantry.