Fork It Over: Almost Mom's Soup

A week or so ago, I tried to replicate a spur of the moment soup my mom made that weekend while I was home. Replicating someone's spur-of-the-moment recipe never really works out exactly, but I think it turned out ok. I just need to have a little more patience with the actual cooking portion of the process...

Butternut squash, chopped brussel sprouts, black beans, quinoa, parmesan, broth.

Cook the quinoa beforehand in water so it doesn't soak up all the broth.

Empty the juice out of your black beans.

Start heating your broth.

Steam the butternut squash a bit to soften them up (2-3 minutes in microwave works!)

Add brussel sprouts to broth and start heating.

Add squash to soften even further (the idea is to break up the squash so there are no chunks.)

Cooked quinoa!

Be patient...

Add your black beans so they can cook a little too.

Let the squash, beans, sprouts, and broth cook a while. I don't know how long, but a while.

Add the quinoa when the mixture starts mixing (here, there are still chunks. I could have waited longer.)

 Cook longer. Add red pepper flakes and some saffron.

Serve with parmesan! Enjoy.