I was pretty sad to miss thanksgiving dinner when Justin and I were away on our trip.
Not that I’m complaining that we spent it in London, which was really cool too, I just missed the family get together we have every year for it!
So, when my sister invited me out to her place for dinner on the Sunday after we got back, and I found out we would be having roast turkey for dinner… I was more than excited! So I kind of did get my thanksgiving after all!
I had whipped up a batch of this delicious Pumpkin Soup and decided that it would be a perfect starter for our faux thanksgiving meal!
Just to give you a little low down on my family – my siblings are two wonderful older sisters; Kim and Sarah! Through them, I also now have two wonderful brothers, 2 adorable nieces, and 1 rambunctious nephew (see him pictured above in the red sweater running at full sprint towards the barn… ohhh to have that kind of energy!)
My oldest sister Kim and her family just recently made their move out to the country. It has always been my sisters dream to live on an acerage/farm, as she’s a country girl at heart, which is funny because we grew up in the city!
This was my first visit to their new place and I fell in love instantly!
The old white house with the veranda, the red barn, the friendly farm cats and the not-so-friendly sheep, and oh, the GARDEN!!
We ate squash, tomatoes, pickled cucumber, carrots, and potatoes all from the garden! I know already that I am going to spend lots of time out here with Kim next summer growing my own delicious goodies!
The day I went over Kim had just finished clearing everything out of the garden so in the picture it’s pretty bare, but I got to enjoy all the wonderful food it produced!
We ate a delicious home grown feast, and had my pumpkin soup to start! It was a hit!
Kim also gave me a bunch of veggies from her cellar so keep an eye out for recipes using these delicious ingredients! It was such a great day, beautiful fall weather, wonderful food, and great company.
Now for the recipe!
Creamy Vegan Pumpkin & Sweet Potato Soup
I had been craving pumpkin soup for a while, and we had some while we were in Italy of all places, and I knew I had to make it as soon as I got home!
This soup is warming, filling, and delicious but actually quite low in calories (only 108 cals per 1 1/3 cups!). Instead of cream I used almond milk which still gives the soup a nice creamy taste but doesn’t add the fat and calories and also makes it suitable for vegans!
I was hoping to use real pumpkin and roast it with the sweet potato and apple but I couldn’t find a small pie pumpkin anywhere. Kim happened to give me one with all the other goodies so I might have to make the soup again using that little pumpkin. I ended up using canned pumpkin puree instead – so if you have a small pumpkin or happen to find one out at the grocery store, you should definitely use it in this recipe!
Roasting the sweet potato, apple, and onion gives the soup a full rich flavor! The maple syrup adds a hint of needed sweetness, and the garlic gives the soup a wonderful aroma. I didn’t roast the garlic as it loses its potency when cooked and for this recipe the garlic needs its punch!
Although the recipe takes a little longer when you factor in the roasting time, it was actually very easy to whip together! For a crisp fall day at home, or a family gathering, this soup is sure to please. 🙂
Enjoy!
- 1 sweet potato, peeled and chopped
- 1 cup pure pumpkin puree (canned or homemade)
- ½ cup sweet onion, chopped
- 1 cup apple, peeled and chopped (a tart apple works best)
- 2 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
- 4 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp nutmeg
- 2 cups unsweetened original almond milk
- 2 tbsp pure maple syrup
- 4 cups vegetable stock
- Sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper to taste
- Preheat oven to 365F.
- Place apple, onions and sweet potato into a large baking dish with ¼ water in dish. (If you have a pumpkin, remove insides, and cut into chunks the same size as potato, with the peel removed and roast with the other ingredients.)
- Bake until fork-tender, about 45-60 minutes. Remove them from the oven and set them aside to cool.
- Once cooled, place all the roasted ingredients into your food processor with the raw garlic and maple syrup. You may need to do this in batches depending how large your processor is.
- If you are using canned pumpkin, add the pumpkin puree to the food processor.
- Add in the vegetable stock to help blend. Once blended, move the mixture to a large pot on your stove. Add the remaining vegetable stock and add the almond milk, and spices.
- Allow the soup to simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally on low to medium heat.
- Serve immediately alone or with a dollop of yogurt.
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Am I reading this wrong? How much pumpkin? I’ll just wing it. I’m excited to make this! 🙂
I used about a cup!
Ooooooo!!!! Excited for this one!
LOVE the post Christal! 🙂