Jack-O-Lantern Soup

Today was a gloomy rainy day and the snow crept so far down the mountain I'm surprised it didn't land on the ground at our house... grateful, but surprised. So I made soup. Chopped up the three jack-o-lanterns that my dad "stole" from the neighborhood the morning after Halloween, cooked 'em down and then made a huge batch of cream of pumpkin soup.

This is the best pumpkin soup recipe I’ve ever had…

1 ½ lbs fresh pumpkin or 1 lb (450 gr) canned

3 tbsp butter

½ cup chopped scallions – whites only (I use regular onions if I don’t have the green onion bottoms)

½ cup chopped celery

½ cup chopped carrots

1 chopped garlic clove

3 cups chicken stock

1 cup canned tomatoes, chopped with juice

¼ tsp red pepper flakes (I use less… they’re potent)

¼ tsp white pepper

1/8 tsp ground nutmeg

2 cups Half and Half (or 1 cup milk and 1 cup whipping cream)

Melt butter – sauté gently the scallions, celery and carrot. Add garlic and stir briefly. Add chicken stock, tomatoes, pumpkin, seasonings and cook slowly for an hour. Let cool and puree in blender till smooth. Reheat gently with the Half and Half. 

Then I made a huge batch of tuna, beans and veggies soup - I sort of made that one up and I'm not sure how it'll taste... . 

Norm and I went to Alberta last weekend and bought 20 large frozen chickens from the Hutterites and now I'm a little short on space in my freezer. Must stop making soup. But it's what I do on days like this. 

Speaking of days like this... five minutes after Norm left to soak in the hot springs for the day I discovered that one of my chickens has an injury that the other chickens have been pecking at, so the neighbour (Jane) and I had to catch her and bandage her up or they would keep pecking till she was dead. Good grief. I just went to close their little chicken door and lift her up on the roost and she made it up herself and the bandage is still intact, so it's all good.