Quinoa Vegetable Soup

For those of you participating in the Daniel Fast

Quinoa Vegetable Soup
Prep Time: 35 Min
Cook Time: 25 Min
Ready In: 1 Hr

Original Recipe Yield 6 servings

Ingredients

* 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
* 1 onion, finely chopped
* 1 carrot, diced
* 1 stalk celery, diced
* 1 zucchini, diced
* handful white mushrooms, quartered
* 1/2 green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
* 1 can garbanzo beans, rinsed
* 2 cloves garlic, crushed
* 1 cup Quinoa
* 1 carton vegetable stock **
* 3 1/2 cups water
* 1 can diced tomatoes
* 1/2 TBS.-1 TBS cumin
* red pepper flakes, dash (optional)
* salt and pepper to taste
* 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley, for garnish

Directions

1. Heat the vegetable oil in a large pot on medium-high heat. Stir in the onion, carrot, celery, zucchini, mushrooms, green bell pepper, garbanzo beans, garlic, and Quinoa. Cook for a few minutes, until lightly browned, stirring frequently.
2. Add cumin, red pepper flakes (optional)
3. Pour in the vegetable broth, water, tomatoes,. Increase heat to high and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and simmer until the quinoa and vegetables are tender, about 10 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Garnish with parsley before servings.

** I used Kitchen Basics All Natural Vegetable Cooking Stock (8 Ounce)

Quinoa Vegetable Soup

Pinakbet....Look Mom, I did it all by myself.

Here it is my first attempt (without my mom helping) at Pinakbet. It tastes awesoooome!!!!

 

Pinakbet
Ingredients
    •    1/4 kilo pork with fat (cut into very small pieces)
    •    3 tablespoons oil
    •    1 1/2 cup water
    •    2 medium size Ampalaya (cut into 8 pieces each)
    •    2 medium size eggplants (cut into 8 pieces each)
    •    6 pieces okra (halved)
    •    6 pieces tomatoes (quartered)
    •    1 small garlic head (minced)
    •    2 small onions (diced)
    •    1 small ginger (sliced)
    •    4 tablespoons bagoong isda
    •    Pinch of pepper
Procedure
    1.    In a pan, cook pork until lightly crispy, set aside.
    2.    Saute garlic, onion, tomatoes, and ginger in the pork fat and mix in pork.
    3.    In a pot, boil water with bagoong.
    4.    Add in the pork and spices.
    5.    Add all the vegetables and cook.
    6.    Serve hot.


It's really hard to recreate such a distinct style and flavor of a dish when you have no idea of the process sometimes. That's why for many of us those comfort foods just don't taste the same when we make it on our own without having seen it being made in person. That's why I love finding awesome bloggers who explain the process.  I love Burnt Lumpia's blog post on how he finally made Pinakbet by himself, pretty much summed up my experience...Burnt Lumpia Pinakbet