Quick! I know we’re all busy. We’ve got bags to pack, work to finish, turkeys defrosting, pies to bake and houses to clean (OMG no one’s allowed over here right now. For real. Unless you wear these. And bring some wine.) Not to mention the car needs an oil change, someone’s birthday is coming, there’s that whole gym thing, the kids have _____ practice, someone has to take the dog for his shots, oh and we’ll have to plot our black Friday attack…which isn’t really even on Friday anymore. It’s Thursday. Ahhh!

But somewhere in between changing the guest room sheets and finding where you hid that huge roasting pan, I think you should make this soup. Make a huge batch and scratch a few dinners off the to-do list for this week. It’s quick, healthy and simply delicious.

I recently had this soup at my mom’s house. She told me she had all the ingredients to make pumpkin soup and showed me the recipe in Parade magazine. She was so excited and said “We can make it tonight. It’ll be fun.” Well “tonight” rolled around, my mom was nowhere to be found and I was starving. I figured I’d begin some chopping to get things started. So I cut up an onion, then some garlic, stirred some things around and just like that the soup was ready. Within seconds my mom walked in. “Oh, good! So glad you made it!” Suspiciously good timing, Mom. I’m onto you.

But here’s the thing. I came home and made it again the next day. And then I made it one more time. And I’d be lying if I said it’s not on my list of things to make this week. It’s that good. And that easy. And I promise you, it’s not a chop 50 vegetables and let simmer for an hour kind of soup. It’s a I have 30 minutes before my in-laws arrive and I still need to shower kind of soup. Go!

Spicy Pumpkin Soup (adapted from Parade; serves 4-6)

Ingredients:
2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 teaspoon curry powder
1 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/8-1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (adjust for desired spiciness)
2 cups low sodium, gluten free, chicken or vegetable broth
15 ounces pumpkin puree
6 ounces light coconut milk
1/2 cup greek yogurt, for garnish (optional)
Fresh parsley or cilantro, chopped, for garnish (optional)

Directions:

1. In a large stock pot or dutch oven, heat the olive oil. Add the onion and garlic. Cook until the onion is translucent. Stirring occasionally as not to burn the garlic. Stir in the spices. Cook for at least one minute letting the spices get aromatic.
2. Add the pumpkin. Whisk in the broth. Bring to a boil.
3. Reduce the heat to low and let simmer for 15 minutes. Add the coconut milk and stir.
4. Remove from heat. Using an immersion blender, puree until smooth. Garnish each serving with a dollop of yogurt and chopped herbs. Add salt and/or pepper to taste.

Notes:

1. When I made this at my mom’s I didn’t use an immersion blender. It was still delicious, it just had chopped pieces of onion and garlic. If you’re not using a blender, be sure to finely chop the onion and garlic.
2. You can use any type of milk. The original recipe uses evaporated milk but that sort of weirds me out for some reason. I don’t know why. It’s just more concentrated milk but I used coconut milk because I’ve decided I really like pumpkin and coconut together. And now my vegan friends can have some too.