Creamy Pumpkin Soup Recipe

If I had to choose one healthy food that I wanted to live on for the rest of my life, it would be pumpkin, hands down. I mean, just look at it! It's so much more festive than ordinary squash and tastes better too!

This creamy, super easy pumpkin soup was originally titled "Southwestern Pumpkin Soup" in the family cookbook, for the warm, faintly spicy flavor as a result of the chili powder.

You can use fresh pumpkin or canned pumpkin (I prefer fresh, but canned is equally delicious!) and omit the chili powder as desired.

This soup takes about fifteen minutes to whip up and tastes great on a cool October day!

1. Bring chicken stock (or low-sodium chicken broth) and heavy whipping cream to a boil in a medium or small pot. Stir with a spatula to ensure that the cream doesn't scald on the bottom of the pot.
2. In a separate bowl, whisk together pumpkin, brown sugar, cumin, chili powder (if desired), coriander and nutmeg. In the picture above, the spices are all in the same bowl together.
3. Whisk the pumpkin mixture into the boiling chicken stock and cream. Ideally you should add the pumpkin as the cream and chicken stock begins to froth and rise in the pot.
4. Reduce the heat to medium and simmer until the soup thickens slightly and the flavors blend together. This will take no longer than 15 minutes and you should stir every few minutes or so to prevent scalding. The soup may not thicken as much as you would like it to, but it will still taste great!
5. Season to taste with salt and pepper if desired and serve with cream cheese and cilantro. My mom adds freshly shredded cheddar cheese to her pumpkin soup and a sprinkle of cinnamon, so there are a variety of ways to enjoy your pumpkin soup.

In the spirit of autumn and pumpkins, here are some interesting facts about my favorite variety of squash!

• The pumpkin flower is edible (but I'm still not brave enough to try it!)
• The largest pumpkin ever recorded weighed in at 1818.5 pounds in 2011!
• Pumpkins are in the same family of squash as cucumbers!
• The Irish brought the pumpkin carving tradition to the United States, although they first carved radishes! (Can you imagine enjoying radish pie at Thanksgiving?!)
• Pumpkins (like a majority of their relatives) are mostly made of water, which makes them an low calorie and low fat treat-- pumpkins also have no cholesterol! One cup of canned pumpkin has only 83 calories, so dig in!