Easy blender pumpkin soup/pasta sauce
Little Monkey isn't so little anymore (though he still has these shortstop little legs that motor here, there, and everywhere!). He's an increasingly talkative toddler, and he wants to help. It's the sweetest thing. He caught me sneaking a little dusting in while we were playing together one afternoon, and thought the eco-friendly wipe I was using was a tissue. Knowing a spot at his level where Kleenex are kept, he darted to get one; when he returned from the bedroom, tissue in hand, he proceeded to diligently dust his toys. Dust, dust...toss the tissue on the floor (or in a box, my careful little roo)...back to the bedroom for another tissue...and so the cycle continued.
It's amazing and heartbreakingly wonderful how much our little dude wants to help out around the house, and how politely yet assertively he asserts both budding independence and need to for togetherness (aka, to be held). It does, however, cramp dinner prep a bit, particularly on days when we don't have a babysitter lined up for a couple hours while I work on freelance. On those days, more often than not, dinner is made with Felix on my arm, back, or hanging on a leg. Enter my other household BFF (alongside the slow cooker), the Vitamix.
Smoothies are a favorite in our house, and the blender gets its fair share of use. I sometimes neglect its broad spectrum of talent, however, sticking to the simple I know best. It's fun to rediscover and marvel with my little bittle at the creamy, steamy concoctions the Vitamix can produce in just minutes. This is one, and it will indeed double as sauce one day and soup another. Front step pumpkin #1 was roasted this morning, producing enough pumpkin play for cookies, muffins, shakes, sauce, soup, and maybe even a pie. Pumpkin #2 awaits. Will keep you posted. :)
Pumpkin soup/sauce in a blender ~2.5 dinner servings as soup, or 4 as sauce with pasta
- 3 packed cups cooked pumpkin (doesn't have to be pureed already, but it can be)*
- 1 1/2 cups almond or other creamy milk
- Heaped 1/4 cup tomato paste
- Generous shake each of ground nutmeg and cinnamon
*I cooked the pumpkin the slacker way, like I do with butternut squash: placed whole pumpkin on a square of foil on a baking sheet, and baked at 350 F for an hour; turned off the oven and let it sit until I was ready to use it a few hours later. Seeded, and cut out meat for blender.
**For soup, add 1 cup chicken or vegetable stock.
Combine all ingredients in a blender (I used a Vitamix) and process until smooth.
To serve as a sauce, I cooked a box of Ancient Harvest quinoa pasta and added it to a skillet of sauteed kale and garlic, then mixed in pumpkin sauce to combine.