Pinto Beans, Sweet Potato and Quinoa in Tomato Broth: Better and Faster than it Sounds!

This is my favorite soup recipe. I found it in Mothering Magazine, and then adapted it to our taste. It's so nutritionally dense, it's hard to believe that it tastes as good as it does! I'm making it tonight and thought I'd share.

Pinto Beans, Sweet Potatoes, and Quinoa in Tomato Broth

1 1/2 cups canned pinto beans

1 cup quinoa, rinsed

7 cups chicken or vegetable stock

1 T extra-virgin olive oil

1 small yellow onion, minced

2 large cloves garlic, minced

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp minced fresh oregano or 1/2 t dried oregano

1 bay leaf

Salt and pepper

1 1/2 cups canned tomatoes, finely diced, with juice

1 orange sweet potato, peeled, diced small

Rinse pinto beans and set aside.

Place quinoa in small pot and cover with 1 1/2 cups stock. Bring to boil, immediately turn down to simmer, cover, and cook until quinoa has absorbed all liquid (about 15 minutes). Keep warm.

Heat olive oil in 4-quart pot over medium heat. When hot, add onion and cook until soft around the edges (4-5 minutes). Add garlic and chipotle chile and cook 1 minute more. Add cumin, oregano, bay leaf and a little salt and pepper. Cover with remaining stock and diced tomatoes with their juice. Bring to a simmer and cook 10-15 minutes to allow stock to become well-flavored. Add sweet potato and simmer 10-15 minutes more, until sweet potatoes are tender.

Add pinto beans to broth and bring back to a simmer. Divide warm quinoa among deep bowls. Ladle hot broth into bowls. 

Garnish with a dollop of plain yogurt, avocado and green onion. If Daniel's not into it,  I'll add crushed tortilla chips to his soup as well.

The Mothering Recipe calls for a roasted chipotle pepper in the soup and suggests topping with lime, cabbage, feta or radishes as a garnish.