quinoa carrot top soup

I keep meaning to experiment with quinoa more. I mentioned this to a friend recently as we were grocery shopping together, and she emailed me an interesting recipe for a quinoa carrot top soup. I love soup, and we had just picked up our CSA box with lovely organic carrots inside, so it was easy to motivate myself to make this soup.

Looking at the recipe, I decided that it would probably turn out a bit bland for my tastes, so I added some spices while I was cooking it. It didn't turn out perfectly, but it made for a nice summer soup. I think next time I will experiment with perhaps adding beans or cooked cabbage to this soup as well. The recipe is from this website: http://tonopahrob.com/?p=20

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 onion - diced
• 4 cups water
• 5 to 6 carrots
• 1 cup carrot tops - washed and finely chopped
• 2 tbsp Better than Bouillon – Beef Flavor or 2 tsp beef bouillon granules
• 1/2 cup quinoa – rinsed well

Sauté onion in olive oil over medium-high heat in 3 quart pot until onions begin to brown. Add remaining ingredients and simmer for approximately 30 minutes.

I made the following substitutions/additions: Instead of the beef bouillon, I used about 3 cups of vegetable broth and 1 of water. I added 1/2 tsp each of turmeric, cumin, and red pepper flakes, as well as two bay leaves. This would probably be very tasty with fresh rosemary and tarragon if you prefer those flavors.

The carrot tops give this soup a really nice fresh taste! It is great for a spring or summer soup, and I plan to perfect it in the future.