The Best Pumpkin Soup You’ve Ever Tasted

Please welcome guest blogger, Megan Carroll of A Kitschy Kitchen, where she sells the most fabulous vintage-inspired aprons along with other great handmade creations. Not only can she help you look good in the kitchen, but today she’s also going to teach us how to make the best pumpkin soup you’ve ever tasted! I can’t wait to make this one.

~

Feeding and fostering a healthy relationship with food can be a complex thing with young children. Finding ways and strategies to make meals interesting can sometimes be challenging, but when you find something that works, run with it.

For us it was a book, Pumpkin Soup. It was about friendship, responsibility and sharing. The unifying element was food. From peeling the pumpkin and putting it into the pot to stirring the soup and adding the salt, everyone had a job to do. But when that fell apart and they couldn’t share, the soup was all wrong. My kids loved this story and because of that, I started making pumpkin soup for them. Having something that they could identify with and that we could talk about made it much more approachable.

Mummy’s Pumpkin soup, based on the book Pumpkin Soup by Helen Cooper.

• One 2-2 ½ lb pumpkin, seeded & peeled*
• Small onion, chopped
• 1 tsp of curry powder**
• 1 tsp of cumin seeds**
• 1 carrot, chopped
• 1 celery stick, chopped
• 1-2 cloves garlic
• 2 tbsp butter
• Salt & pepper to taste
• 4 cups liquid (water, vegetable or chicken stock)
• ¼-1/2 cup cream (optional).

In a large pot on medium high heat, melt the butter and sauté the chopped onion, then add in the spices and cook until fragrant. Add in the additional vegetables and salt, stirring constantly until they are tender. Reduce heat slightly, combine pumpkin and add liquid. Bring to a boil and simmer partly covered for 20 minutes or until all the vegetables are soft. Remove from heat, puree with an immersion blender or transfer to a regular blender in batches. Bring the soup back up to temperature (not boiling) and add the cream in at the end.

* To seed and peel, I like to chop mine into eighths or so, drizzle with olive oil and roast covered with tin foil in the oven at 375F for an hour.

** When making food for my children I tend to use spices in moderation. I still want them to experience different flavors, but don’t want to overwhelm their palate.

~

Megan is originally from Vancouver, BC but now lives in Bellingham, WA with her family. She cooks, cleans and makes aprons. Be sure to check out her shop and pick up the autumn apron seen in this post or one of her many other beautiful designs.