10-Minute Chickenless, Noodleless Soup

After weeks of unseasonably warm weather, Winter is hitting and it’s hitting hard. It’s rained the past few days; and the temperature has dipped into the 30 and 40s. It’s no wonder I was craving chicken noodle soup recently.

I was thinking of just riding out the craving, since it’s not the easiest thing to satisfy for someone who’s vegetarian and gluten-free. Then I realized I had enough food lying around to make a decent meat-free, gluten-free soup that hit all the right notes.

I loved how flavorful this was, especially for something that was so simple. It was exactly like any good soup I’ve ever had, with a deep and savory broth. The quinoa and tempeh make this totally satisfying, as well. If gluten’s not an issue, I bet the texture of seitan would work great in this soup, too, in place of the tempeh.

10-Minute Chickenless, Noodleless Soup

Prep time: 5 minutes

Cook time: 10 minutes

Ingredients(Makes 4 side servings or 2 entrée servings):

• 2 cups precooked quinoa
• 3/4 cup chopped kale, fresh or frozen
• 3/4 cup peas, fresh or frozen
• 1 block of tempeh, cubed
• 3 cups water
• 1 vegetarian bouillon cube
• 1/2 teaspoon salt plus more to taste

Method:

1. Combine all of the ingredients in a large pot
2. Bring the water to a boil. Make sure to mix well enough that the bouillon cube dissolves completely into the broth.
3. Once heated through, remove from the stove and serve hot.

And then I ate this with 2 clementines because I’m paranoid about getting sick during finals period. Nobody sneeze on me, please.