New Recipes!

While Laura napped today and David and Carver had an event to attend, Ellie and I tried a few new recipes. The first was Curry Pumpkin Soup, and I loved it. It had both curry and pumpkin pie spice, which made the whole house smell like the Indian restaurant that I love here in town.

2 T. butter

2 medium onions, chopped (1 cup)

1 medium carrot, chopped (1/2 cup)

1 stalk celery, chopped (1/2 cup)

1 tsp. curry powder

1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice (I improvised with cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and allspice)

2 15-0z cans pumpkin

2 14-oz cans chicken broth

2/3 cup water

1 cup half-and-half (I substituted 1/2 cup heavy cream and 1/2 cup milk)

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. ground pepper

1. In 4-quart Dutch over melt butter over medium heat. Add onions, carrot, and celery. Cook, 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until softened. Add curry powder and pumpkin pie spice. Cook and stir 1 minute. Add pumpkin, broth, and water. Increase heat to medium-high; bring to boiling. Reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer, uncovered, 15 minutes. Remove from heat; cool slightly.

2. In food processor or blender, add one-third of the pumpkin mixture at a time, cover, and process or blend until smooth. Return all pumpking mixture to Dutch oven.

3. Stir half-and-half, salt and pepper int opumpking mixture; heat through.

The second was Blackberry Swirl Pie. Unfortunately, we have not tried it yet (we're saving it for small group tonight), so I'll give you the recipe simply because it looks amazing!

1 uncooked pie crust

1 8-oz. package dairy sour cream

3/4 cup sugar

3 T. flour

1/8 tsp. salt

3 cups fresh blackberries or 16-oz. frozen blackberries

1. Preheat oven to 450. Let frozen berries stand at room temperature for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, prepare pastry and line 9-inch pie plate. Line pastry with double thickness of foil. Bake 8 minutes. Remove foil. Bake 4 minutes more or until lightly browned. Cool on wire rack. Reduce oven to 350.

2. In bowl combine sour cream, sugar, flour, and salt. Add blackberries and gently stir to combine. Spoon into prebaked crust. To prevent overbrowning, cover edge of pie with foil. Bake 25 minutes (50 minutes if using frozen berries). Remove foil. Bake 20 minutes more or until filling is bubbly and appears set. Cool on wire rack for 2 hours. Serve or cover and refrigerate.