Sunday Soup

Happy Sunday! I hope everyone had a great weekend. Mine has been busy and fun. Friday night my husband and I had a late dinner and watched a movie with wine and Lindor chocolates (de-stressing from the week)! Saturday I did our weekly grocery shop and ran errands then visited my mom at her house. We took wine and potatoe chips down to the beach and sat and talked until the sun set and it got too chilly. Today I had a friend's baby shower to attend, such a beautiful event. I wasn't sure what to write today for the blog, it was a full weekend so I hadn't given it much thought. I decided I would share with you the soup that I planned to make and photograph the cooking process. A friend gave me this recipe from Skinny Kitchen: http://www.skinnykitchen.com/recipes/super-healthy-beef-vegetable-quinoa-stew/

I didn't follow the recipe exactly, however, it inspired me to make a soup with some spicy Italian pork sausage I had picked up. Below are the main ingredients I used, not pictured are salt and fresh baby spinach l added at the very end. 

I followed the recipe loosely, so have a look at the link for the full version and see my photos for my adaptations. I started by browning two spicy Italian sausages, with casings removed, in my teal Cuisinart cast iron dutch oven over medium heat. To that I added a small chopped cooking onion.

Then half of a large zucchini that I chopped into small pieces.

Then I added a chopped red pepper.

I used a can of fire roasted diced tomatoes, I thought they would add a nice smoky flavour.

Lastly went in a bottle of puréed tomatoes with basil. I used this instead of pasta sauce that the original recipe called for. 

The lid went on and I turned the heat down low and simmered for 25 minutes. While the soup was cooking, I cooked the quinoa in a separate pot, following regular directions. The very last step was to add the quinoa and fresh spinach. I put a large handful of spinach in, but I didn't measure it, just used up what I had. As the Italian sausage is already spicy and flavourful, the tomatoe sauce contained basil leaves, and the fire roasted tomatoes had added garlic, I didn't feel I needed to add any other herbs or seasoning except some salt. 

The finished product was a spicy, flavourful, hearty and thick soup. 

If you make this soup and try the recipe as is or change it up like I did, I would love to hear what you all thought. I love making a big pot of soup on Sunday to bring to work for lunch or for a quick weeknight dinner. Soup is comforting and satisfying and can pack a ton of healthy ingredients. I hope you enjoy!

Teal next time....xoxo

Kathleen