When The Frost Is on The Pumpkin...

Yes indeed, the frost is on the pumpkin!!
Autumn is here, can you hear it?
How about a good pumpkin soup recipe?
Spicy Pumpkin Soup
Ingredients:
4 Tbsp unsalted butter
2 medium yellow onions, chopped
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
2 teaspoons curry powder
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
Pinch ground cayenne pepper (optional)
3 (15 oz) cans 100 percent pumpkin or 6 cups of chopped roasted pumpkin*
5 cups of chicken broth (or vegetable broth for vegetarian option)
2 cups of milk
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup heavy cream
Method:
1 Melt butter in a 4-quart saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onions and garlic and cook, stirring often, until softened, about 4 minutes. Add spices and stir for a minute more.
2 Add pumpkin and 5 cups of chicken broth; blend well. Bring to a boil and reduce heat, simmer for 10 to 15 minutes.
3 Transfer soup, in batches, to a blender or food processor. Cover tightly and blend until smooth. Return soup to saucepan.
4 With the soup on low heat, add brown sugar and mix. Slowly add milk while stirring to incorporate. Add cream. Adjust seasonings to taste. If a little too spicy, add more cream to cool it down. You might want to add a teaspoon of salt.
Serve in individual bowls. Sprinkle the top of each with toasted pumpkin seeds.
Serves 8.
*To make pumpkin purée, cut a sugar pumpkin in half, scoop out the seeds and stringy stuff, lie face down on a tin-foil lined baking pan. Bake at 350°F until soft, about 45 min to an hour. Cool, scoop out the flesh. Freeze whatever you don't use for future use.

And just in case you never toasted pumpkin seed before…
Ingredients:
• Pumpkin seeds
• Cooking spray, olive oil, or butter
• Optional: Salt, garlic powder, onion powder, seasoned salt, or other seasoning of choice
Preparation:
Rinse pumpkin seeds. Use your fingers to remove all the pulp. Drain pumpkin seeds and discard pulp. Spread out on a cookie sheet to dry overnight.

Preheat oven to 250 F. Line a baking sheet with non-stick foil.

Toss pumpkin seeds in olive oil, butter, or spray with cooking spray. Sprinkle with salt, garlic powder, onion powder, seasoned salt, cayenne pepper, or your choice of seasonings. Toss to coat.

Bake about 1 hour, tossing every 15 to 20 minutes, until golden brown.

Cool pumpkin seeds before eating. Store in an airtight container at room temperature up to 3 months or refrigerate up to 1 year.

If you like your toasted pumpkin seeds extra-salty, soak overnight in a solution of 1/4 cup salt to 2 cups of water. Dry an additional day, and then proceed as above.

Tid-bit: Pumpkin seeds are also known as pepitas.

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On the home front, Bart the Dog (aka BIG B, Double B, Honey-Boy B)
is doing fine after a day at the vet getting his old teeth taken care of.
Within a day of the event (of which he was lauded as being a fine, gentle sweet boy, as if we didn't already know)he was back to greeting me at night with several loud barks and a couple of "woe-woes".
The Porsche, well the Porsche is now the belonging of a nice old guy from Ware who "Just had to have it" as he told me.
The missus is fine and has dealt with the death of her father (four weeks back) very bravely and strong.
As for me... hopefully I'll regain an interest in keeping this page going and flowing.
Polly-tics have left my noodle like a poodle. Can'stanzit any longer.
But I'll make the occasional blast into it as I see fit.
May even post a poem/song from time to time, who knows?

Well day lights-a-burnin' and there's a pile-a-leaves that need jumpin inta'.