I will admit, I am rather partial to a few too many wines.  Most weekends.  We also lead quite busy social lives so the weekends are usually full of indulgent food, less sleep than is probably good for us and we are not getting any younger etc etc.  So, come Monday and particularly in the winter I crave goodness.  A whole big bowl of it.  Life is all about balance after all…….

There are no hard and fast rules for this soup.  Use whatever greens (broccoli, asparagus, beans etc) you may have in the bottom of the crisper or if you have a veggie garden, raid it.  I am just giving you my version of what I had at the time.

Prep time:   15  Minutes            Cooking time:   15  Minutes               $  Low Budget

Serves 2

2 cups of vegetable or chicken stock

2 cups of water

1/3 cup of quinoa

1/2 a red onion, finely diced

1 clove of garlic, finely chopped

Grated rind of 1 lemon

1/2 cup of baby peas

3 broccolini stalks, chopped

1 zucchini, diced

2 celery stalks, chopped

2 cups of chopped kale

2 tbs of chopped fresh parsley

2 tbs of freshly grated parmesan cheese (optional but fab flavour)

1 tsp of chilli flakes

Sea salt and cracked pepper

Lemon wedges to serve

Place the stock, water, onion, garlic, quinoa and half the grated lemon rind in a medium sized saucepan and bring to the boil.  Pop a lid on and reduce to a simmer for approximately 8 minutes or until the quinoa is almost cooked.

Remove the lid and pop in all of the vegetables except the kale.  Place the lid back on and allow the veggies to  blanche for a further 2-3 minutes.  Place the kale in the pot and cook for approximately 1-2 minutes or until just wilted.  Season with salt and pepper and stir the kale through.

Divide the soup between two bowls and sprinkle over the parmesan, parsley and chilli flakes and serve.