Classic Tomato Soup Feel, but with Pumpkin!

Regular tomato soup can be too acidic for my toddler and preschooler.  I also continuously need to find ways to get them to eat a greater proportion of veggies.  I thought adding pumpkin would address these issues and not greatly alter the taste of tomato soup, which I wanted.  Strangely, I could not find what I wanted in a recipe on-line, so the hubs and I had to improvise.  He said it’s how he wanted tomato soup to be!  Normally he just thinks his own stuff is the best.  😀

Ingredients:

• 1-2 tbl olive oil or butter
• 4-8 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup chopped onion (or 1/2 a small onion)
• 28 oz can roasted diced tomatoes
• 2 cups chicken or vegetable broth
• 2 tbl honey
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 8.5 oz canned pumpkin (or half a can)
• 1 tsp basil
• salt and pepper to taste

1. Heat oil or butter in dutch oven or large pot over medium heat.
2. Add onion and garlic to butter and saute.
3. Add tomatoes, broth, honey, salt, and pumpkin.  Let it come to a boil, then simmer for 15 minutes.
4. If desired, blend with immersion blender or give it a whirl in the food processor.
5. Add basil and any extra salt and pepper as you see fit.We ate this with Tenessee Cheddar Puffs from relishmag.com. 
   

   

Spaghetti Squash Garlic Bake

Sometimes mistakes lead to good things.  Like this spaghetti squash dish my husband devoured. I started making one dish, found out I did not have the ingredients to make it, so had to improvise.  I already had diced up onion and garlic for the other recipe, but then followed this Sheet Pan Hash Brown recipe for the seasoning measurements.  Hence the funny use of salted and unsalted butter, and fresh and dry garlic.   T

Ingredients:

• 4 cups cooked spaghetti squash strands (or, 1 medium spaghetti squash cut in half, seeds scooped out, then roasted at 400 degrees Farenheit for approx. 40 minutes or until it is pierced easily.   Scrape strands out and discard the outer shell.)
• 1-2 tbl salted butter
• 1 small onion diced, or about 1 cup diced onion
• 2 cloves garlic minced
• 2 tbl unsalted butter
• 1/2 tsp. kosher salt
• 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp. ground black pepper

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Heat salted butter in nonstick skillet over medium to medium high heat until the butter is lightly browned.
3. Add the onion and fresh garlic to the butter and saute till browned.
4. Meanwhile, melt unsalted butter in large bowl.  Mix in salt, garlic powder, and black pepper to melted butter.  Stir in the spaghetti squash and the cooked onions and garlic.
5. Spread the mixture on two sheet pans lined with parchment paper.
6. Bake for 30 minutes.  If not toasty brown enough for your liking, put under the broiler for 3-5 minutes.