Quinoa Black Bean Tomato Soup with Roasted Garlic

I must admit, I did not feel like cooking this weekend. It was such nice fall weather outside, plus I had other stuff going on, like trail running, yoga, getting a facial, learning how to make a sock bun (so cool!!) and taking Lilly to the park.

Sock bun!

So by Sunday afternoon when it was time to cook, I just wasn’t feeling it. I just wanted to make something healthy and filling and awesome to last me for the week and I didn’t want to spend a lot of time or dirty dishes to make it.

I was planning on making a raw soup for my Scary Food challenge. But the recipe called for Irish Moss Gel (??) and at that point I lost interest. I have no idea where to get Irish Moss Gel and isn’t a raw vegetable soup just a vegetable smoothie?

Pass.

I happened to have a bulb of garlic, a bunch of cooked quinoa and black beans on hand so I only had to buy an onion and a can of roasted tomatoes to make this magic happen. I spent like $3 on this recipe that will feed me for the week.

This was my first time roasting garlic, but it was quite rewarding. Roasted garlic is delicious, plus now my whole house smells like an italian restaurant! Roasting the garlic takes about 40 minutes but you can spend all that time taking a nap if you like. After that, this soup throws together in a matter of minutes. If you don’t want to roast garlic just use minced garlic and put it in with the onion. It will still be good.

Quinoa Black Bean Tomato Soup with Roasted Garlic
serves 5-6

1 bulb garlic
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small yellow onion, diced small
4 cups cooked quinoa
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon dried marjoram
2 teaspoons salt or to taste
1/2 teaspoon black pepper or to taste
1 28 oz can fire roasted crushed tomatoes
2 15 oz cans black beans

Heat the oven to 375˚. Take the bulb of garlic and slice off just the top part a little to expose the garlic cloves. Dip the exposed end into some olive oil and place the bulb on to a piece of aluminum foil. Wrap the bulb up tight in foil and place it on a baking sheet. Bake for about 40 minutes or until soft and browned. Once soft and browned, remove from oven and set aside.

Heat the olive oil in a large stock pot over medium heat. Add the chopped onion and sauté for 5-7 minutes. Then add the spices and cook for 2 more minutes.
While all that is cooking, place the tomatoes into a food processor or blender. Take the cooked garlic and squeeze the cloves out of the husk. Place all the garlic in the food processor along with the tomatoes. Blend. Add the tomatoes & garlic to the onion mixture. Fill up the 28oz can with water and add to the pot. Bring it to a boil then add the cooked quinoa and black beans. Taste for salt and pepper. Remove the bay leaf before eating.

I had used a few of my cloves so many of my cloves were already broken off. It didn’t matter.