The mad rantings of a cookbook writer to be - and a Pumpkin Soup recipe.

I'm still trying to figure out how to work on my cookbook. One would think you would just sit down, grab some recipes (I have tons), organize them in some fashion and put it out there. Writing is hard work! And organizing your thoughts and ideas is hard work! And I'm lazy! I'm trying to figure out a way to approach this task methodically. I'm torn between a project management approach with a work breakdown structure (WBS to those of you in the know) or my old term paper approach that got me through high school and university. It involves index cards and a filing system. A highly effective system but time consuming. UGH! I have no excuse this week. Tim is away and I can totally focus. I have a freezer full of good food (more about that in a minute) so I can't get distracted by cooking which is still my favorite distraction from reality. Focus, it's all about focus. Did I mention I am typically doing 3 things at once? Right now I am playing ball with the dog, considering knitting patterns for some gifts for friends I'm going to visit next week and writing this. Oh, and I'm job searching and about to go start my breakfast. I'm so screwed.

On a happier note, yesterday I totally ate out of my freezer. I had pumpkin soup for lunch. Holy snappin' arseholes, was it tasty! I have no idea why I haven't blogged about this one before but here is the recipe.

Perfect Pumpkin Soup

Here is a quick and delicious pumpkin soup that makes a great meal. And it’s cheap! It is also an excellent starter when you don’t have fresh salad ingredients on hand. Even though there is real cream in this, don’t sweat it. It’s only 1 cup worth for the whole recipe which works out to 1.33333 ounces of cream per main course dish. But don’t skip it, it really smooths out the soup.

I keep a can of pure pumpkin on hand at all times just so I can throw this together in a pinch. Where do you find can pure pumpkin in the grocery store? Why with the canned pie filling, of course! (I spent 15 full minutes racing up and down aisle looking for it the first time…. I figured it would be with the canned fruits! Nope)


Serves 6 as a main course or 8 as a starter course - 2 Points per serving! (it tastes way naughtier than that!)

Ingredients

· 1 Tbsp Olive Oil
· I onion, chopped
· 1 carrot, chopped (optional)
· 1 rib of celery, chopped (optional)
· 2 tsp or 2 cloves of minced garlic
· 5 cups of low sodium chicken broth (almost 2 large cartons of the store bought kind)
· 1 796ml of pure pumpkin
· 1 tsp of dried sage or thyme or savory
· 1 cup of whipping cream

Directions
1. Heat the oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat

2. Sauté the onion, carrot and celery until softened, about 3 minutes

3. Add in the garlic and cook one more minute

4. Add in 3 cups of the broth and cook for 5 minutes. Puree the mixture using either a blender, immersion blender or potato masher.

5. Stir in the can pumpkin, the rest of the broth and the sage. Cook for another 5 minutes.

6. Stir in the cream and just heat it through, about another 2-3 minutes.

7. Enjoy!

This recipe freezes beautifully. (See, I can say that for sure, having just eaten some that has been in the freezer for 6 months!)


Nutritional Information 6 Main Servings with Carrot and Celery: 117 Calories, 11g Fat, 5g Saturated Fat, 0g Trans Fat, 27 mg Cholesterol, 87mg Sodium, 4g Fiber, 16g Carbohydrates

Then for supper I had Lamb Ragu on pasta. Wowzers! Both dishes survived the freezer unscathed. So the term "freezes beautifully" really does have meaning.

Today is a holiday, in lieu of Remembrance Day... Maybe I should just take the day off, drink coffee and knit.... FOCUS, FOCUS -man I suck.