Easy Spiced Pumpkin Soup - Healing Spices

On a cold winter's day there is nothing better to warm the bones than a hot bowl of soup. My absolute favourite has to be pumpkin soup.

Pumpkin itself is a wonderful vegetable loaded with vitamin A and antioxidant carotenoids, particularly alpha and beta-carotenes, it’s a good source of vitamins C, K, and E, and lots of minerals, including magnesium, potassium, and iron.   Add to this a good dose of spices including

Turmeric: Anti-inflammatory
Paprika: Rich in Vitamin C, Anti-Oxidants & great for Circulation
Cumin: Assists in Blood Sugar Control & Aids Digestion
Coriander: Anti-bacterial
Black Pepper: Anti-bacterial & Aids Digestion

Pumpkin is also very low Glycemic Index and is one of the vegetable included on the induction stage of the Atkins Diet.

Now this particular recipe has a very Indian taste to it because of all the spice (and I LOVE Indian food). If you want your soup to be less spicy, I recommend reducing the measurement of the spices to ½ a teaspoon each instead of a full one.

I hope you all enjoy

xoxoxoxoxox

 

RECIPE

To view a quick video on how to make this recipe click the link below:
http://youtu.be/ZbzvZGJItQo

Ingredients:

½ Butternut Pumpkin
1 Onion
¼ Cup Cream

1 Tsp Salt
1 Tsp Turmeric (Ground)
1 Tsp Coriander (Ground)
1 Tsp Paprika (Ground)
1 Tsp Cumin (Ground)
½ Tsp Pepper (Ground)

Method:

1. Peel and Dice Pumpkin into 1 inch cubes & place in a medium sized pot
2. Roughly Chop up Onion & Add to pot
3. Add enough water to just cover the pumpkin in the pot and simmer for 10-15min until pumpkin is tender
4. Drain about 2/3 of the water
5. Cool the remaining water, pumpkin & onion and then blend
6. Add cream, spices and salt and stir
7. Heat before serving.

A Russian Welcome ...

Hi everybody and thanks for visiting my brand new Loretta's Kitchen blog. I thought I would share some of my favourite recipes with you all, and would love to hear any feed back or suggestion from you . As a foodie I think it's wonderful to be able to share recipes from around the world and hope that this blog will inspire others to cook beautiful home made food made with real whole foods and real flavour.

All of my recipes have a you tube video available so you can see step by step how to make them (I always find it easier when I see somebody make a recipe rather than just reading one), and I have a facebook page you can follow where I put heaps of handy tips at www.facebook.com/LorettasKitchen

So... on to the recipes:

I'm going to start my Blog with one of my favourite's

THE RUSSIAN SALAD

Also known as the Olivier Salad, a popular dish traditionally served with meat cooked on a spit, or BBQ meat on New Years Eve in Russia. This moist potato and vegetable salad is a great alternative to a plain potato salad.

To view the video on how to make this please clicking the link below:
http://youtu.be/-6J1SDSTZ3s

            

Ingredients: (serves 8-10)

5 Large Potatoes
3 Large Carrots
2 Cups of Peas
4 Eggs
200g Ham
2 Spring Onions
8-10 Dill Pickles
Salt 1 Cup Whole Egg Mayonnaise

Method:

1. Peel & cube the potatoes and carrots & put in pot.
2. Add Frozen Peas & Eggs to the pot and add just enough boiling water to cover, the boil for 8-10 minutes
3. Remove eggs, Strain mixture and cool.
4. Dice up Ham, Onions and Pickles & Egg & add the cooled vegetable mixture.
5. Add Mayo and Salt and stir through