Creamy Pumpkin Soup

I love pumpkin soup! It is a bit heavy on the tummy since it is a complex carbohydrate. It keeps you full for a long time because it takes longer to digest.

Creamy pumpkin soup is very easy to do, I've been wanting to do this since I got my hand blender, hehe. I've been wanting to use that immersion blender the first time I laid my eyes on them. Anyhoo, let's get cooking! You will need:

4 pounds squash or pumpkin, seeded, cut into 1" chunks and peeled
1 tablespoon olive oil
6 slices smoky bacon, chopped
1 medium onion
Water or stock, as needed
1 cup cream or milk
salt and pepper
pinch nutmeg
About 2 Tbsp crème fraiche or sour cream (optional)
About 2 Tbsp chopped chives (optional)

Take the chunks of pumpkin, stir fry them to start them cooking and season it with salt and pepper; and then put the pumpkins on a baking sheet and bake for about 30 minutes or so until tender.

This part is optional if you are vegetarian, fry bacon then chop them up for garnish; then on the same pan with the fats of the bacon and all, stir fry onions then put in the cubed tender squash, mix it all up then add water or any kind of stock.   Mix it and wait for it to boil, then lower the heat to maintain simmer.

Use your hand held blender and start mashing and blending away.  Add a bit of cream then mix more, if you find the consistency is too thick or too creamy, you can adjust the amount of water and cream you put it.

Put in a pinch of nutmeg into the soup, it sounds weird to put something sweet into something savory, but amazingly, it brings out the flavor even more!  Not too much to make it smell like apple pie!  

Personally, i put a ton of pepper into my soup, but all is up to you!  That's why I like cooking better than baking, because it doesn't have to be exact, you can still get something edible even if you put too little salt or too much water, etc etc.  I enjoy baking on the other hand because it's challenging and it seems so fulfilling to do!

Put some sour cream and sprinkle some fresh chopped spring onion and bacon to garnish.  Voila!