I’m not completely over the edge or anything, but it’s been a hard week and today was the worst of it. I cried 10 times today, literally, Eric counted. He’s working 2 am shifts while his supervisor is on vacation, I’m having trouble sleeping, we have a ridiculously busy week, and it’s overwhelming on both of us.
At 7pm we decided to cut our losses and head to bed. I couldn’t sleep, so decided to get up and do some cooking. I’ve been stocking up on soups in the freezer, and decided to make another one. I still had some stringy pumpkin guts and didn’t want to just make more bread, I felt like something healthier. I’d often seen pictures of soup inside a pumpkin, and decided I wanted to try it. I had a small pumpkin I got on sale at Safeway for $.60 today and thought I may as well try to make soup with the stringy guts!
The best time to cut onions is when you’re already crying 🙂
It turned out great and I have a good sense of accomplishment now. Plus, it’s vegetarian, which we aren’t, but meat is expensive so it’s great to come up with some tasty dishes that don’t need it.
To make pumpkin gut puree: I put the pumpkin guts in a sauce pan and put it on the stove on med-high. I stirred it every once in a while for about 15 minutes until it was one big soft clump. Then I put it in a food processor until pureed. (I hugged the food processor in my furry robe so it’d make less noise to wake up Eric). I tasted it and thought it was a little bitter so added 1/4 teaspoon of sugar. Perfect!
Chunky Pumpkin Corn Chowder
Ingredients
1 large red onion
3 large carrots
1/4 cup olive oil
10 tsp organic vegetable bullion powder
10 cups water (or 10 cups vegetable stock and omit bullion)
3 small red potatoes
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1 red bell pepper
1 can corn (drained)
1 cup pumpkin gut puree (see above)
Instructions
Dice the onion, carrots, potatoes and bell pepper. pour olive oil into a large pot, saute onion and carrots on med-high for 10 minutes.
Mix bullion with water and add to pot. Add potatoes, black pepper, cayenne and cloves. Let boil for 25 minutes stirring occasionally.
Add bell pepper, corn and pumpkin gut puree. Mix well and simmer another 10 minutes.
Pour into a cleaned out pumpkin. Garnish with toasted pumpkin seeds and fresh basil leaves.
UPDATE: I’ve entered this post in the Art You Eat contest!
Diana-
I hope everything is ok and things get better. At least it’s Friday?!? Smile and don’t be down 🙂
Love,
Crystal
Yeah, I’m actually looking forward to Monday, that’s my one actual day off.
I hate to break the news to you but if you cry 10 times a day without exactly having a “reason” it’s not a good thing!!! What can I do to help?
It’s not really that bad, I didn’t mention hormones played a part in the emotionalness. Plus we watched a documentary to do with the Holocaust. Lots of factors contributing to my multitude of tears. I’m doing great now though!
I know what you mean about those kind of days! Thanks so much for entering this in Art You Eat. It looks really beautiful and so fresh and Fallish! Hope you are feeling better!
It must be contagious, this sad thing. I really appreciate you sharing your approach. Gorgeous pumpkin–perfect for the art contest.