Pumpkin Soup

Wondering what to do with all those pumpkins?  Make your own roasted pumpkin puree which can be used in this delicious soup!  The following recipe was adapted from a recipe for the popular Pumpkin Soup served on Carnival Cruise Lines.  The Carnival recipe, while also serving a large crowd of people, was also very rich!  I replaced the heavy cream and half and half with milk to cut down on some calories.  While it's not exactly the same, it is pretty darn close!

Ingredients

1 large onion
13 garlic cloves
drizzle of olive oil
sprinkle of sea salt and pepper
29 oz. can of pumpkin puree or 4 cups of fresh puree
32 oz. container of chicken stock
1 cup whole milk
salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Preheat oven to 375.
quarter onion and place in baking dish with garlic cloves.  Drizzle with olive oil.
Bake at 375 for approx. 30 minutes
When finished roasting, place onions and garlic cloves in food processor and puree.  Slowly add pumpkin and continue to puree.
In a stew pot add chicken stock and pureed vegetables.  Simmer 25-30 minutes.  Add milk, salt and pepper and cook until heated through.  Serve with a dash of nutmeg or dribble of heavy cream.

**If you want to follow the original recipe, add 1/2 cup half and half and 1/4 cup heavy cream.
**Salt and pepper are to taste.  I used a lot of pepper and not a lot of salt.  I could have cut back on the pepper a bit.  :)