Pumpkin Soup

I am feeling incredibly grown up in the last few months. Not only have I successfully added green beans to my regular diet (laughable only two years ago), I found a way to eat cauliflower, AND I made soup.

Soup and I have a long sordid history together. I can remember when my mom would make soup on a semi-regular basis- you know, back before she had a paying job and such...

Minestrone, ham and split-pea, lentil, broccoli and cheese...I distinctly remember smelling each one and dreading the dinner table that night. Sorry, mom. It wasn't until I grew older (and out of my ketchup-obsession) that I realized how good I had it. Don't get me wrong, I won't TOUCH ham and split-pea soup, but I'm not as wary of soup as I was.

Soup is one of the foods I just don't know what to do with. There's liquid (which you should swallow) and there's chunks (which you should chew) so you end up sloshing around a mouthful of fluid-like pieces, terrified that I'm going to choke from half-eaten bites of veggies.

Give me a good old tomato soup- sippable, dippable, easy to drink.

In keeping with that idea, I came across this recipe for pumpkin soup and I thought, Why not? You puree the crap out of it, so there's no chunks, right? I like pumpkin so this seems win-win.

Sadly, this recipe calls for cardamom. I have never had cardamom and I have no idea what it tastes like, so really I have no idea what I'm missing. I substituted coriander instead. It gave the soup a subtly sweet flavor (maybe that was just the cumin) but I was head over heels! 

This made enough for three servings (all for myself, fortunately: Mr. E wasn't as excited about this recipe). 

The first time I added dried cranberries (sooo yummy).
The second time I used barbequed chicken (hubby's homemade BBQ sauce) and Laughing Cow creamy Swiss spreadable cheese.
The third time I added the suggested plain Greek yogurt as well as some chopped almonds and more cranberries (what can I say, I'm a sucker for cranberries).

I would have really liked to try pumpkin seeds in my pumpkin soup, but those never last very long in our house. After Mr. E finished singing my praises about the fact that I made them, he burned his tongue, put them in a bag and I never saw them again.