Creamy Vegan Pumpkin Soup with Curried Gravenstein Apples

Save money and make your own quick vegetable broth.

This sugar pie yielded 5 cups of chopped pumpkin for my soup.

Peeled pumpkin with seeds removed.

Using your Harvest

We grew quite a few little sugar pie pumpkins and although quite a few of them will make their way into pies, a healthier way to use them is in a soup. Since we still have a few boxes of Sebastopol Gravenstein apples, this recipe will also use some of these. You can also substitute winter squash for the pumpkin and other types of apples for the Gravensteins.

Carotenoids - Strong Antioxidants

Red, yellow and orange vegetables are full of antioxidant rich carotenoids. Although Beta-carotene is the most well known, hundreds of carotenoids have been identified. These antioxidants are believed to enhance our ability to fight cancer and other diseases. The power of these and other plant chemicals is enhanced when they are consumed together so it’s best to get them from food than to buy a vitamin pill that has isolated a single carotenoid, like beta carotene.

Nutrient Content of One Cup of Cubed Raw Pumpkin [source, Nutrition.data.com ]

Calories - 30

Fat and cholesterol - 0 g

Carbohydrates - 8g

Fiber - 1 g

Protein - 1 g

Vitamin A - 8,567 IU (171 % Daily Value)*

Potassium - 394 mg (11%)

Riboflavin - 0.1 mg (8%)

Copper - 0.1 mg (7%)

Manganese - 0.1 mg (7%)

Vitamin E - 1.2 mg (6%)

Folate - 18.6 mcg (5%)

Iron - 0.9mg (5%)

Phosphorus - 51 mg (5%)

Thiamin - 0.1 mg (4%)

Vitamin B6 - 0.1 mg (4%)

* In descending Percent Daily Values (%DV) based on an adult 2,000 calorie diet.

Make your Own Quick Broth

You can substitute ready-made broth in this recipe. But if you want to save a few dollars and use herbs from your garden and on-hand veggies, you can throw together a quick broth while you are preparing the rest of the soup ingredients.

Creamy Soup Without the Cream

Whether you are vegan, lactose intolerant or you just want to save some calories, you can make your soup creamy by blending in potatoes instead of cream.

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Creamy Vegan Pumpkin Soup with Curried Gravenstein Apples [serves 4]

For the broth:

5 cups filtered water

2 carrots, each cut in three pieces

1 large piece celery, cut a few pieces

Skin and ends of a large onion

Sprig of fresh thyme

Handful of fresh parsley

4 peppercorns

2 cloves garlic in skin, each cut in half

For the Soup:

1 1/2 teaspoons olive oil

1 large onion, peeled and chopped (about 1 1/2 cups)

1 small pumpkin, peeled and chopped (about 5 cups)

1 1/2 cups peeled and chopped Yukon Gold potatoes

3 cups of broth (from above or ready-made)

1/2 teaspoon sea salt (or to taste)

2 cups chopped Gravenstein (or other) apple

1 tablespoon Earth Balance or other vegan no-transfat margarine

1 teaspoon sweet curry

Black pepper to taste (optional)

Bring all broth ingredients to a boil in a sauce pan. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, while you prepare the soup (or at least 30 minutes). In a 5 or 6 quart Dutch oven, saute onion in the olive oil for 5 minutes. Add 3 cups of the broth (the above recipe may make a little more than that but only use 3 cups of it), the pumpkin, potato and salt. Bring to boil, then simmer until the pumpkin and potatoes are soft, about 15 minutes. Put the soup in a blender, blend until just smooth and return to the pot. Adjust salt if necessary. In a small sauce pan, saute apple in margarine and curry powder for 2 minutes, mixing continually. Divide soup in 4 bowls, top each with apples and freshly ground black pepper.

Per serving: 171 calories, 4.1 g fat, 1.0 g saturated fat, 0 g cholesterol, 2.8 g protein, 33.9 g carbohydrates and 3.6 g of fiber.

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