Welcoming Fall Soup

So this evening I made a Thai Pumpkin Soup that filled the entire house with scents of fall and warmed me up as if I was sitting by a warm fire. It was the perfect ending to my first day back to school, especially since it was a bit hard to leave home last night. Cooking the soup tonight made the entire house warm and cozy which is exactly what i needed. I also especially liked using coconut milk in this recipe, because I have been on a coconut milk kick lately. Today at school, me and a classmate experimented with a new smoothie using coconut milk, mango, banana, and ginger. It was so smooth and creamy. The coconut milk stuck with me all day and I contributed it to my sucessful run around greenlake this afternoon. We are using coconut milk in our smoothies at the Juicebar and I am excited to allow students the chance to try this non-dairy milk in their drinks.

Tomorrow is the start of classes, which is one of the main reasons I cooked tonight, because I had the TIME to! It felt like the calm before the storm, but honestly, I am hoping to continue to make time to cook. It is always so hard to go to my clinic shift each week and talk to clients about making time to cook dinner and experiment with new recipes when I can't find the time to. So I hoped that tonight I set an intention to cook during fall quarter, and to view my meals as a time to relax and nurture myself. If I can just remember the feeling of cooking tonight in a calm environment, just like I had all the time in the world to experiment in the kitchen, because whos to tell me that I don't!

Here is the recipe I used tonight: I experimented a bit with Goat milk instead of the non-fat milk and I also added more coconut milk for a creamier taste. Dried thyme can be replaced with rosemary.

Thai Pumpkin Soup

1 Tbsp butter
1 small onion chopped
1 Tbsp peeled, fresh ginger
1 clove garlic
2 cups canned pumpkin
1.5 cups coconut milk
1.5 cups nonfat milk
1 tsp thai green curry paste
pinch of dried thyme
1 tsp lime juice
salt, pepper to taste
1/3 cup chopped peanuts

Melt butter, saute onions, ginger, and garlic.
Place 1 cup pumpkin, coconut milk, nonfat milk, curry paste, and thyme into a blender. Add onions and puree until smooth.
Pour the puree into a pot, add the other cup of pumpkin, and cook over medium heat for 5 minutes
Season with lime, salt, and pepper. Top with peanuts and enjoy!