Light and Creamy Pumpkin Soup

Hey, who turned on the cold?? We seemed to have gone from jacket weather to winter coat weather in a big hurry around here! For me, cold weather brings on major soup cravings. A nice, steaming hot bowl (or two) with some crusty bread and I'm quite happy to call that dinner. For years I got through winters with my, somewhat hidden, stash of canned soups but this year I decided it was time to tackle my lack of soup making skills.

I began last week with creamy potato and leek soup and was quite pleased with myself. It was easy, healthy, plentiful and the flavor seemed to improve each day. I was suddenly hooked on homemade soup. And now I wanted to tackle pumpkin but I knew I'd need to tweak almost every recipe I found. I just don't like sweet soups and most squash and pumpkin versions I've tasted were way too sweet...almost clawing.

I decided on pumpkin rather than butternut squash because it is the less sweet of the two. I also decided to tame it a bit by adding a couple of potatoes, a tang of cheese and some zing in the form of a teensie bit of curry powder. The amount I used perks up the soup without being noticeably curried but feel free to add more if you're a curry fan. Either way, this soup is good, good, good. There's still plenty left in the pot and, even though I haven't had breakfast yet, I'm already craving it. Enjoy!

Ingredients
2 Baking potatoes, peeled and cut into bite size pieces
1 1/2 cups unsweetened pumpkin puree
1 Onion, peeled and diced
1 Clove garlic, minced
1 Tablespoon olive oil or butter
3 - 4 cans (14 oz. each) low fat, low sodium chicken stock
1 Cup low fat milk
2 oz. Low fat goat cheese (optional)
1 Tablespoons chives or scallions, chopped
1/4 Teaspoon curry powder
Salt & pepper to taste
Optional garnishes:  croutons, chives, Parmesan cheese

Add the olive oil, onion and garlic to a Dutch oven or other large stock pot and cook on medium low for approximately 10 minutes or until the onions are translucent but not browned. Add the potatoes and pumpkin puree to the pot along with enough chicken stock to cover them. Bring to a boil, cover and cook for approximately 25 minutes or until the potatoes are fork tender.

Working in batches, add the soup to a blender or food processor and puree. Be careful not to overfill or the hot liquid will leak out of the blender. You can puree all the soup or leave it as chunky as you like. Place the soup back in the stock pot and turn the heat to medium. Add the chives, milk and season with the curry powder, salt and pepper. When the soup is boiling, turn off the heat and stir in the goat cheese. Serve hot with croutons, additional chives and a sprinkling of grated Parmesan cheese, if desired. Makes approximately 8 servings.