Southwest Soup plus Quinoa

A lady I worked with in Tulsa made this great southwest style soup for a work function, and I fell in love. I have been able to modify it in every country we have lived in, which is to say the recipe is quite flexible. Usually I would serve it with cornbread, but we did not have any in the house, nor the ingredients to make some, so I thought quinoa would add some nice heft to the recipe. You could also serve it over corn chips or something similar by draining more of the juices off of the ingredients or not adding tomato juice.

The Players

1 cup rinsed quinoa

1 1/2 cup water

1 cup black beans

1 cup ranch style beans

1 cup corn

2 cans Rotel

1 quart tomato juice

1 package taco seasoning

1 package powdered ranch dressing mix

The Fun

1. Boil water. Add quinoa. Cover and reduce heat to simmer for 15 minutes. Once done, remove from heat and allow to sit for 5 minutes before fluffing with a fork.

2. While the quinoa is cooking, dump the rest of the ingredients in to a large sauce pan and cover. Allow to heat on medium, stirring occasionally. I try not to bring it to a boil, as I am impatient in waiting for it to cool.

3. Spoon some quinoa in to a bowl and then ladle the soup over the top.

I tend to mix mine up, while others in the family prefer to scoop to the bottom to get the quinoa. You can top with cheese, sour cream, avacado, etc, but we were low on groceries, so we ate it plain this last time.