After having pumpkin soup at a restaurant last Friday, I’ve had pumpkin soup on the brain. Water on the knee – pumpkin soup on the brain, it’s a real medical condition I swear. Needless to say, I’ve been on the look out for the perfect pumpkin soup recipe to try my hand at it at home.

Bernie shared a pumpkin soup recipe last week, and I stumbled upon a few others that looked great and helped get the wheels in my head turning.

Most of the recipes I found had some sort of milk. I didn’t want to use dairy, and I saw some recipes that called for soy milk but I’m a little turned off by the way soy milk can curdle – not to mention that I prefer to limit the amount of our processed soy in our diets. But coconut milk? Now that’s something I’ll happily throw in the pot.

After browsing enough pumpkin soup recipes to write a pumpkin soup cook book, I came up with just one.

I like to call this They Accepted Our Offer Pumpkin Soup!!!! Or maybe Curried Thai Pumpkin would be more widely accepted? Oh well, who cares. We’re buying a new house! That’s all that matters! And oh yeah, I’m finally eating pumpkin soup again, that matters too!

1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 onion, diced
1 cup mushrooms, diced
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
2 15 oz cans solid pack pumpkin (cooking your own pie pumpkin would be better – but yeah, not tonight)
1 15 oz can coconut milk (I used lite)
1 – 2 cups water or vegetable broth
1 cup of uncooked quinoa, rinsed and drained
1 Tbsp curry powder (more or less to taste)
1 Tbsp cumin (more or less to taste)
S&P to taste

In extra virgin olive oil, saute onions and mushrooms until soft.

Add pumpkin, coconut milk, water/broth and beans and bring to a boil. Reduce to simmer, add quinoa, spices and salt to taste. Cook on low for about 20 minutes.

I used lite coconut milk – it was plenty thick and creamy, and the calorie savings was significant! I usually steer clear of the “lite” version of anything, as it usually has additives that make it taste better having been stripped of fat, sugar, etc. The only other ingredient in the lite coconut milk vs. the regular coconut milk was water, so I went with the 75 less calories per two oz serving!

Served with a piece of Ezekiel toast.

This made a ton of soup, probably 10 servings? We’ll be eating pumpkin soup until we close on our new house in December and that’s alright with me!