Red pepper pumpkin soup

Enjoy this easy recipe for red pepper pumpkin soup -- for lunch or dinner, it's a creamy sipping soup that will warm your body and spirit.

Red pepper pumpkin soup

Before you say, "Two soup recipes in a row?", let me point out that, here in Vermont, it is 21 degrees and has already snowed -- before election day.

So yes, soup again.

But I'm giving you a lovely, seasonal soup that is so delicious and easy it would be appropriate to serve at the Thanksgiving table, if you serve a soup course.

So you really can't complain.

(And if you do, well ... no soup for you.)

I love red pepper soup. I have a go-to red pepper soup recipe that I make quite a bit, so I almost didn't try this recipe. I worried that the addition of pumpkin and sweet potato might disqualify it as a sipping soup, which is what my red pepper soup is: a soup that is comforting as well as nourishing, a soup that you drink from a coffee mug in front of the fireplace rather than from a bowl at the kitchen table.

But, being all ninja-like, I threw caution to the wind and tried it.

I think you'll be glad I did.

Part of what makes this soup special is that all the primary veg ingredients are oven-roasted. Roasting all the veg before adding it to the soup pot not only gives the soup a richer flavor in the end, it also saves a lot of stovetop time, making this a pretty effortless recipe (my favorite kind).

I liked this red pepper pumpkin soup so much that I cut up all the necessary portions of veggies and frozen them together, so that I can whip up a batch of it anytime I want throughout the winter.

(Well, that and I had a lot of leftover pumpkin, even after buying the smallest one I could find.)

If you want to make your life even easier, make a double batch now and freeze individual portions for later: soup when you want it, no cooking involved!

Red Pepper Pumpkin Soup

(adapted from a recipe by Rozanne Gold in Cooking Light)
Note: This is a lovely light lunch or dinner if served with grilled cheese or a green salad.

Ingredients:
3 cups cubed pumpkin (about half of a small pie pumpkin)
3 cups chopped red bell pepper
1 1/2 cups chopped sweet potato (about 1 large)
1/2 cup sliced green onion
1 teaspoon Chinese five-spice powder
1 teaspoon cumin
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 teaspoon salt
1-2 tablespoons olive oil
5-6 cups chicken stock (use vegetable stock to make this a vegetarian soup)
1-2 tablespoon butter

Directions:
Toss the first eight ingredients in a large bowl with the olive oil. Spread on a baking sheet and roast at 400 degrees for about 30 minutes or until tender.

Place the roasted veg in a large soup pot with the chicken stock and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and cook for another 5 minutes or so. Remove from the heat and, using an immersion blender, blend the soup until smooth. Stir in the butter and serve.

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