African Quinoa Soup

At my request, Saba brought me some of the soup she made for dinner last night. It was so delicious and hearty, I really wanted to have some for lunch at work tomorrow. So I waited until about 8:30 and decided to make that happen... And now I'm eating second dinner, as usual.

Adapted from the post Jake put up last summer... I'm not really sure why my soup is much thinner than Jake's, maybe he lied about the amount of quinoa and peanut butter? At any rate, it doesn't matter, Rachel and I just confirmed it still tastes amazing. And it will obviously be thicker tomorrow after the quinoa sits and soaks up the liquids.

Ingredients:

2 tbls butter

1 medium onion, diced

1 medium sized beet, diced

1 medium sweet potato, diced

6 cloves of garlic (normal people probably use 2-3), minced

3 small carrots, tops removed, diced

1 cup of red chard (approximately two large leafs), stems removed and diced and set aside, greens sliced

1 ts oregano

1/2 ts cumin powder

1/2 ts red chili flakes

1/4 ts cayenne

6 cups of vegetable broth

1 cup red quinoa

3/4 cup peanut butter

Methods:

Heat a heavy-bottomed pot on medium, and add butter. After the butter has melted and just started to froth, add onions, beet and potato. Saute until the onions become translucent and the roots begin to soften (10-12 minutes). Add the garlic, carrot, and chard stems and saute another 2 minutes. I always add my garlic later than the onion so it doesn't burn and stick to the pan. Add the chard and stir just a couple times, until incorporated, then add the broth and all the spices. Raise heat to high and bring to a rolling boil. Add quinoa, then lower heat and allow to simmer for 20 minutes. Add the peanut butter and mash around with a wooden spoon to dissolve. Serve immediately! Leftovers will only