Mimmsical Creations

As promised - here is the recipe for the pumpkin soup we made for our jewelry "party" on Friday night! It's not difficult, except for the cutting of the pumpkin! **Edited to add: my mom suggested to either microwave or bake the pumpkin whole for a while first before trying to cut it up! Makes sense that it would make chopping it easier!!

Pumpkin Soup

2 medium onion, chopped
2 Tablespoons of butter
16 oz. Chicken broth (or veggie to make this vegetarian!)
2 1/2 cups water
2 pounds pumpkin - peeled, cut into cubes (about 5 cups or 1 small baking pumpkin)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 cup milk (warmed)

1. In a deep pot, saute the chopped onion in the butter over medium heat.

2. Add the chicken broth, water, pumpkin, salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil and simmer about 20 minutes or until pumpkin cubes are soft.

3. Remove from heat, and puree the mixture in a blender and return to pan. (We had to do the puree-ing in three batches to get it all done!)

4. Add the milk and boil again. (We accidentally added the milk with all the other ingredients instead of at the end and it was fine.)

5. Adjust the seasoning as needed. Serve.

We ate this with more wine, green salad, and yummy asiago cheese bread. It was a superb meal! I brought a small amount home for Mike to try - and even he liked it!! (Soup in process below - before puree!)

As I'm on a soup roll, I made split pea soup last night! I've never made it at home - and it was a rousing success!! SOOO yummy! And quite easy, actually. I just sauteed onions and carrots until the onions were translucent, then added 16 oz. of dried peas, water, and a cut up ham steak. I let it simmer for about 2 hours. I pureed a few cups of it and added that back in. We had a yummy, creamy split pea soup for dinner! The photo isn't as pretty as the pumpkin - but this is the soup in process - before puree!