Tomato, Mushroom & Quinoa Soup Recipe

soup

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Author

Solluna by Kimberly Snyder

Servings

Prep Time

15 minutes

Cook Time

20 minutes

Total time

35 minutes

Soup is the soul sister to smoothies! Filled fiber and easy to digest, soup is amazing for our energy and keeping us naturally full. Yes! Even in the summer I eat soup :).

My Tomato, Mushroom & Quinoa Soup Recipe is full of hearty, beauty and nutrient-rich beauty foods that will keep you feeling amazing!

Don’t let the heat stop you from taking full advantage of the rich goodness found in my soup recipes Beauties- for it’s an easy way to gain all the benefits without spending too much time (or money), in the kitchen!

Beauty Treasure: Tomatoes

Yes indeed, tomatoes are packed with a treasure of antioxidant benefits. A few of them include vitamin C and beta-carotene, vitamin E and mineral manganese. In terms of phytonutrients, tomatoes are basically off the chart, and include flavonones, flavonols, hydroxycinnamic acids, carotenoids, glycosides, and fatty acid derivatives.

What stands out with these red gems is their lycopene. Check out what this one study found:

Tomato and other dietary sources of lycopene were removed from the diets of postmenopausal women for a period of 4 weeks (in order to see what effect lycopene restriction would have on bone health). At the end of 4 weeks, women in the study started to show increased signs of oxidative stress in their bones and detrimental changes in their bone tissue.

So we can see that removing lycopene-containing foods (tomatoes being one of those foods), from the diet was likely to put women at increased risk of osteoporosis—arguing the importance of tomatoes and other lycopene-containing foods in the diet.

Tomatoes also help with…

Antioxidant protection: important for our bone health
Heart health: lowering total cholesterol (including LDL cholesterol and triglycerides)
Prevent unwanted clumping together (or aggregation), of platelet cells in the blood: an important factor in lowering risk of heart problems.
Anti-aggregation properties: unusual phytonutrients in tomatoes help provide us with heart-protective benefits

As our knowledge of unique tomato phytonutrients expands, we will surely learn more about the unique role tomatoes play in supporting heart health and I will be sure to add more of this beauty fruit to coming recipes!

Age-Defying Mushrooms

What I love about mushrooms is that whether you eat them raw or cooked, they retain many of their nutrients- and this is true of any type of ‘shrooms you choose to use. But today’s recipe we are going to be using the hearty Portobello.

Here are just a few of the benefits you can receive when adding mushrooms to your beauty diet rotation!

Anti-inflammatory: Inflammation has been linked to chronic disease, autoimmune disorders, pain, heart attack, and stroke. Mushrooms intake blocks function of pro-inflammatories that contribute to inflammation in the body.

Antioxidant: Mushrooms contain antioxidants, including ergothioneine5, which protects cells, fights against oxidative damage, slows aging, and protects health.

Source of B12: Mushrooms have be known to provide a valuable source of vitamin B12. The content of B12 varies from farm to farm which makes sense (this being due to growing conditions varying). We used to get B12 from unprocessed, healthy soil before the advent of modern food manufacturing—if you are all plant-based/vegan, it is still recommended that you supplement.

Mushrooms contain vitamin D, antioxidants and tons of minerals, including high levels of selenium, riboflavin, copper, niacin, tryptophan, pantothenic acid, potassium, phosphorous, zinc, manganese, thiamin, pyridoxine, and folate. Mushrooms also contain iron, calcium, fiber, and magnesium (in smaller amounts).

Nutrient-Rich: Quinoa

Oh how I love my quinoa!! I’ve been eating it for years :). Being the heartier part of this dish—quinoa is gluten-free, high in protein, and contains all nine essential amino acids.

This grain gets its overall nutrient richness from it’s high fiber, magnesium, B-vitamins, iron, potassium, calcium, phosphorus, vitamin E and various other beneficial antioxidants.

What allows quinoa to serve as a complete protein source is that it contains greater amounts of lysine and isoleucine. And something good to note is that our body will mix and match and you don’t have to get complete protein in every meal, given you eat a wide variety of whole plant foods, but it’s nice to know sources that provide it <1>.

Quinoa is also great for its anti-inflammatory benefits. Daily intake of quinoa has shown the ability to lower levels of inflammation, due to the wide range of anti-inflammatory nutrients present in quinoa.

Click here if you need a boost in supporting your digestion & nutrient absorption and avoiding inflammation!

Even though quinoa has all of these great benefits, it is very important to soak grains (even though quinoa is technically a seed we treat it as a grain), at least eight hours/preferably overnight, to help deactivate the enzyme inhibitors that coat all grains (and beans), and will make them easier to digest.

Once you get in the habit, it will be a breeze. Just plan your ahead, throw some quinoa in a bowl with water the night before making this recipe, and make enough quinoa to last you a couple of days.