Pumpkin Soup Recipe

With November here, squash season is pretty much over.  But that’s nothing to fear because that also means that in the first weeks of November, pumpkins are on super sale!

Whereas you could totally carve some pumpkins now with those free or low priced pumpkins, you could also do a lot of other things with those pumpkins.  Now is the time for making pumpkin pie, pumpkin rolls, and pumpkin bread all using fresh pumpkin instead of canned!

But with the cold weather coming on, it’s also a great time to make some healthy soup to help warm the bones and the soul!  So today, I want to share with you a quick and easy recipe for using those extra pumpkins to make soup!

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Ingredients 

• 2-3 pie pumpkins or 1 large pumpkin (cut)
• 2 tablespoons avocado oil
• ½ medium sweet onion (or yellow onion)
• 3 Bay leaves
• 2 teaspoons ginger
• 2 ½ cups low-sodium organic vegetable broth
• 2 ½ cups water
• 1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt
• ¼ teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• ½ cup almond milk

1. Preheat oven to 425⁰ F
2. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. If using pie pumpkins (small) cut them in half and remove the seeds.  If you are using a large pumpkin, remove the seeds of the pumpkin (as if to carve) and cut the pumpkin into small pieces so they can fit on the baking sheet.
3. Place the pumpkin with inside flesh up on the baking sheet.   Brush with a small amount of avocado oil.
4. Season pumpkin with salt and pepper and Bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour until it is easily stabbed by a fork.
5. Very finely dice onion so it is in very small pieces
6. Place 1 tablespoon oil in large sauce pans over medium heat and add in onion.  Cook until soft.
7. Remove pumpkin from oven and allow to cool enough that you are able to handle it. Scoop flesh into saucepan.
8. Add vegetable broth, water, salt, pepper, and ginger to taste.
9. Add bay leaves into the soup
10. Bring mixture to a boil over medium to high heat. Reduce to medium low and simmer for about 20 minutes stirring occasionally and breaking up any large pieces of pumpkin.
11. Once all large pieces of pumpkin are broken up and soup begins to thicken, remove from heat.
12. Remove whole bay leaves and add almond milk until the soup thickens further.
13. Serve soup warm.  Unused soup can be frozen about 1 month.
14. Enjoy!

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If you like your soup a little more savory you can try adding tumeric, or cumin to the soup.  If you want a sweeter soup, you can also add cinnamon and nutmeg.  I use the ginger so it is an easy middle of the road type of soup and can be flavored to taste!  Especially considering that everyone loves different flavor of their soup!

Let me know if you try to make this soup and how you decide to serve it in the comments below!

Until next time,

Kat

Black Bean and Quinoa Stuffed Pepper Soup

Soup is one of my favorite dishes.  It is great when the weather is getting a little cold and it’s always an easy dish to put on while you have other chores to do around the house.

Going vegetarian has cut some of my favorite soups out of my diet, including stuffed pepper soup.  But of course, I’m not going to let cutting meat out of my diet prevent me from indulging in some of my favorite things.  Instead, I came up with an amazing, simple, and extremely tasty alternative dish to the normal stuffed pepper soup.  This one makes use of black beans instead of meat and quinoa instead of rice.  So not only is it just as good as the normal dish, it’s full of protein and slightly healthier.

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Ingredients

• 1 can drained black beans
• 1-2 chopped bell pepper
• 1 cup finely diced onion
• 1 (29 ounce) can diced tomatoes
• 1 (15 ounce) can tomato sauce
• 1 ¾ cups organic vegetable broth
• ¼ teaspoon dried thyme
• ¼ teaspoon dried sage
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1 cup quinoa

1. In a large pot, cook pepper and onion until onion is translucent. Do not let pepper brown.
2. Add black beans, tomatoes, tomato sauce, broth, and spices
3. Cover and let simmer for about 20-30 minutes.
4. Add in 1 cup quinoa and let cook another 10-15 minutes until peppers are tender and quinoa has absorbed enough liquid.
5. Heat soup thoroughly before serving.

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This has actually become a huge hit in my house.  It’s something everyone can enjoy and although it tastes slightly different from the normal stuffed pepper soup you’re used to, it’s still extraordinarily tasty and a fun twist on an old classic.

Let me know what you think of this recipe in the comments below.

Until next time,

Kat