An interesting combination of vegetables in this one, but it was nice and creamy.

This is not a bad jumping off point, but from the start I could see it would be a little on the bland side. I substituted chicken stock for the water (vegetable stock would work just as well if you want to keep it vegetarian)added a good sized grind of fresh pepper (I use the peppercorn mix of black, red, pink and white), a generous clove of fresh garlic, a pinch of thyme, sea salt instead of table salt for seasoning, and it was nearly perfect. Since my husband and I are not vegetarians I added a tablespoon of chopped bacon to add a little rich smoky flavor and it was great. A scant 1/4 tsp of liquid smoke would work for vegetarians. Soups are all about layers of flavors to me, and while this recipe was a good base it needed some help to get to where I wanted it to be. P.S. this is my first experiment with quinoa, and I will definitely be using it again!

I found the recipe as written a little bland. I used half broth and half water, and I would definitely substitute broth for the full amount of water next time. I would probably add some garlic at the beginning as well.