Pumpkin Puree

Halloween may have just passed, but the excitement I feel when I come across a pumpkin display at a grocery store still can't be matched by any other food or decoration.

Seriously. It's like mesmerizing and I usually just stop for a minute to look. My friends can attest to this weird fascination, as they've been bombarded with a stream of pumpkin-related propaganda picture mail for the last month.

Anyway, there has been a lot of talk about a shortage of pumpkin puree for about the last year. I've yet to experience the scarcity myself, but I thought I'd give this a try. I followed this blogger's instructions.

Then I made some pumpkin muffins. Because while pumpkin puree is time-consuming and somewhat hard, muffins are the easiest thing in the world to bake.

I also made this tasty pumpkin seed and pomegranate salad.

Soup Post

Disclaimer: The are no soup recipes or soup photos in this post.

But I have been on a helluva soup-making binge lately. At least once a week, I make a pot of some kind of vegetable soup, and I eat it for lunch every day that week. The thing about my soup is that it's usually not much to look at. I've made borscht, tons of gazpacho, squash soup and plain-old vegetable stew. All good, none beautiful (ok, maybe the borscht). The result has been very little blogging on my part. Laziness might also have something to do with that though...

Here is a sample of some of the more interesting stuff I have made:

Pretzel Bites (half of this recipe)

Udon Noodles with Tofu

Roasted Beet Hummus

Raspberry Walnut Tart

Potato Ricotta Fritters with Indian Spice