I'm in a freezer coop (once a month make 15 copies of one meal, get together, swap with other people, end up with a full freezer ) Anyway this month it was my turn to select the recipes and add one of my own to the database. I made pumpkin soup for the co-op. I had to alter my recipe a little because of some freezer club restrictions (i.e. canned pumpkin instead of fresh), but it still turned out well. Today I ran in to one of the co-op ladies at the grocery store. She owns a wine shop that serves appetizers, panini's etc. She was buying the soup ingredients to make it to serve in her restaurant for this week's soup! Her family ate it last night. My mom used to make pumpkin soup for halloween before we went out. We made popcorn to give out back then so I would have it with popcorn -I would put the popcorn in and chase it around with my spoon. Now I like it with fresh parmesan and crusty bread. Awesome with leftover chicken or turkey added to it. I think I have posted a different pumpkin soup before but this is the now famous pumpkin soup! Pumpkin Soup 1/2 lb fresh carrot (2 large or 3 small carrots) 1/2 lb sweet onion (roughly 1/2 a large onion) 2 stalks celery (+ celery leaves) 2T olive oil 1T dried parsley 1T italian seasoning (salt free) 1/2 T minced garlic 1 1/2 T chicken better than bouillion** (or veggie) 3/4 c. frozen white corn (or fresh of course if you have it - about 2 ears) 30 oz solid pack pumpkin*** +2 cups water or chicken broth +cayenne pepper to taste- optional - I usually use about 1/4-1/2t but took it out for the freezer coop -lots of kids. ** I prefer to make my soups with broth rather than bouillion. If you use broth you will need 4-6 cups of broth and may have to add additional salt to taste later. I used "better than bouillion" paste this time to make it freezer coop friendly and that is the second best option. Bouillion cubes are just salt and MSG - ick. ***You may be tempted by the fresh pie pumpkins or butternut squash or acorn squash in the store or farmers market. This soup is awesome with fresh squash. Especially butternut or pie pumpkin (not all pumpkins are meant to be eaten though). One large butternut, 1 small pumpkin or 2 acorn squash would be appropriate. Again, it is soup, a little more or less one way or the other doesnt really matter. Halve your squash (I use a cleaver and a mallet) remove seeds and cook covered face down in an inch of water either in the microwave or oven until soft. Scoop out flesh. Use less water in your soup. This soup is best pureed so if you have an immersion blender use it! This is soup. If you have a few carrots or celery stalks more or less, dont worry about it. If you dont have italian seasoning, any blend of basil, oregano, thyme, sage, rosemary ,marjoram or savory will do. Slice carrots, celery and onion. Keep celery leaves and grab a few extra leaves from the center of the bunch. Saute veggies in the olive oil until they start to release their juices and aroma. Add garlic, sautee ~ 1 minute, add parsley and italian seasoning and saute briefly. Add cooked pumpkin, corn and broth (or chicken bouillion and water) just to barely cover veggies. Simmer ~30 minutes or until the veggies are very soft. Puree with immersion blender, add additional water or broth to thin to desired thickness. If you dont have an immersion blender and are using canned pumpkin, leave it out until after you cook and puree the rest of the veggies in your blender. Then add the canned pumpkin to the puree and add additional broth or water and simmer another 15 minutes or so. The longer the canned pumpkin is in with the other veggies the better - make early in the day and reheat. By the way, with the exception of the white corn which is added to sweeten the squash, the rest of this recipe is what I call "soup base". This could be turned in to just about any soup. Split pea, lentil, even potato - cheddar.

Cream works. It doesnt take much. I would do the soup as above and then at the end right before serving you can stir in some cream. Once you add the cream it doesnt reheat as well so I do cream right before serving

Ennay, Thanks so much for this recipe! I made it last night (or made my version of it, you know how soup goes) and it was so yummy! That, and some cornbread... delicious.