Vegan. Warm. Hearty Soup.

It's a rainy day and I have a sick child at home.  What a great reason to combine pantry items for a delicious and hearty soup!  

Today's recipe is brought to you from Elizabeth Rider's blog.  I swapped out the black beans for garbanzo beans because that is what I had in my pantry.  Here is the recipe folks, simply put. 

ELIZABETH’S DETOXING FIESTA SOUP RECIPE

Prep time: 20 minutes    Total time: 45 minutes    Serves about 8

The What's:

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 medium white or yellow onion, finely chopped
1 large carrot, scrubbed or peeled and finely chopped
1 red bell pepper, finely chopped
1 jalapeño or serrano chili, finely sliced (leave out if you want your soup mild)
2 cloves garlic, pressed or finely chopped
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon chili powder (or taco seasoning, whichever you have on hand)
1 15 ounce can diced tomatoes (include the juice in the can)
1 25 ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed (or use two 15 ounce cans)
1 bay leaf (I added two)
1 quart veggie or chicken stock
2 cups purified water (or more stock)
2 cups already cooked quinoa*
2 1/2 teaspoons sea salt, divided
3/4 teaspoon course black pepper
fresh cilantro for garnish
sliced avocado for garnish

The How's:  (I love her detail here!)

Preheat a large Dutch oven or soup pot over medium heat. Add the onion, carrot, bell pepper and jalapeño with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper and sauté until soft and the onion is translucent, about 7 minutes. Turn the heat to low (to prevent burning the spices) and add the garlic, cumin and chili powder; cook 2 minutes until the spices are fragrant. Turn the heat to medium high and add the tomatoes with their juices to deglaze the pan, using your wooden spoon to scrap up everything on the bottom of the pan. Add the drained and rinsed black beans, stock, water, 2 teaspoons salt, 1/2 teaspoon pepper and bay leaf. Bring to a boil and quickly reduce to a simmer. Simmer at least 20 minutes to let the flavors combine. Adjust seasoning to taste if needed.
While your soup simmers, prepare the quinoa–it takes about 15 minutes.

I plan on serving this to friends at my church this Sunday and I have a feeling they will love it!  Great things about this soup, and detoxification is just an added bonus!