Having all of my kids back home for Thanksgiving was the best! But like a typical mom, I misjudged how much time they wanted to spend with me. Here’s me: “I’m so excited to spend lots of time with my kids over break!” Here’s them: “I can’t wait to spend practically every minute of this break with my friends!” Hence I was left with a huge amount of ingredients from what I thought I would be using to make a family weeknight dinner: 5 pieces of salmon and a HUGE 16 oz. container of organic baby spinach.
The salmon went in the freezer, but not wanting to waste the spinach, I decided to turn it into a soup that I hoped they would at least eat for lunch. I couldn’t find a recipe that matched what I envisioned the soup to be: a chicken broth soup with lots of spinach and brown rice. So I just made up my own recipe and it came out quite good, if I don’t say so myself! And they did eat it/devour it for lunch!
So next time you get blown off by your kids and you have an excess of greens in the house, give this recipe a try!
Spinach and Brown Rice Soup
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 3 carrots chopped
- 4 shallots chopped
- 1/2 onion chopped
- 1 zucchini chopped
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 12 oz. fresh baby spinach
- 1 cup cooked brown rice
- 4 cups low sodium chicken or vegetable broth
- 4 cups water
- 1/2 cup grated parmesan
- 1 1/2 tbsp Italian seasoning
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- fresh ground pepper
- juice from 1/2 lemon
Directions
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Heat soup pot over medium high heat. Add oil.
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Saute carrot, shallots, onion and zucchini for 15 minutes until soft and lightly brown.
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Add garlic. Saute for 1 minute.
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Add Italian seasoning, salt and pepper. Saute 1 minute.
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Add broth and water. Bring to boil.
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Lower heat and simmer at soft boil for 20 minutes until carrots are soft.
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Add spinach and rice. Stir until spinach is incorporated and wilted.
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Cook 5 minutes. Stir in lemon juice. Add parmesan. Add more salt and pepper to taste.
