Quinoa and Vegetable Soup

Hello everyone, my biggest apologizes for my very long hiatus!! I was desperately trying to find time to try new recipes and post, but with all the events in my life, it just was not happening! I spent the summer getting ready for baby #2. Our son, David, was born August 23rd, healthy, perfect and absolutely beautiful. Then came the task of trying to adjust to having a rambunctious (and very jealous) toddler & a newborn...I was happy to have ANYTHING on the table for dinner. So I ended up making tried and true recipes. No time to experiment, especially if it did not turn out, I did not have the energy to make something else. I treat this blog as my online cookbook, so I try to put up recipes that I have tried, liked and will be returning to!! Had a chance to make this soup on the weekend, and it was a hit, especially now that the weather has cooled off; this was perfect to warm up to! I hope you enjoy it as well. I got the original recipe off of Pinterest. It called for couscous instead of quinoa and to make it in the crock-pot instead of the stove-top, up to you, do whatever is easiest. But I would recommend to saute the veggies before adding to the crock-pot, it just gives it so much more flavor!!

Ingredients:
4 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth (I used a home-made chicken stock)
14½ oz can diced tomatoes,undrained
15 oz garbanzo beans,rinsed and drained
1 cup zucchini, diced
1 cup small cauliflower florets**
1/2 medium green bell pepper,diced
1 medium onion,peeled and chopped
1 rib celery, sliced
1 carrot, diced
2 bay leaf
1 clove garlic,peeled and minced
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme or parsley
salt and freshly ground black pepper,to taste

1/2 cup quiona, cooked

**Since I am nursing, I did not add cauliflower, cruciferous vegetables are tough on tiny tummies!

Directions:
1. Prep veggies: zucchini, cauliflower, bell pepper, onion, celery & carrot .
2. Heat oil in frying pan, add veggies and saute for 5-7 minutes.
3. Heat chicken broth in pot, add diced tomatoes, garbanzo beans, sauteed veggies, bay leaves.
4. Let all these ingredients simmer for 25-30 minutes. Then add the garlic, herbs, salt and pepper. I let it all simmer for and additional 5 minutes and then add more after checking for taste. This is how my momma taught me how to make soup. I am sure you can add all the ingredients at once too!
5. While the soup was simmer, prepare the quinoa or couscous. For quinoa it's 1 part uncooked quinoa to 2 parts water, bring to boil then simmer for 15-20 minutes. I add a little butter and salt to it while it is cooking. Besides being the "new craze" it is really healthy for you, and has a delightful little crunch. It adds texture to the soup.

I kept the soup and quinoa separate, and when it came time to heat up the soup after day 1, I mixed them together when I was reheating. 
I found this soup went well with brie cheese and multi-grain crackers.

Here is the link to the original recipe and if you prefer to make it in the crock-pot. Plus their picture is much more professional than mine. I did not get out the DSLR camera for this post, was happy to have remembered to take it on my iPhone!! Often times when I do try out a good recipe, I forget to take pictures and wait to make it again to put up on the blog!

http://slavasrecipes.com/slow-cooker-garbanzo-and-couscous-soup/