Creamy Pumpkin Potato Soup, Mmmm Good

This Creamy Pumpkin Potato Soup is a very flavorful savory soup with a hint of sweetness. The blend of flavors is unique, but pleasing. It was unlike anything we have had before, but we all really liked and enjoyed it. It is a great soup to serve with hot fresh bread or dinner rolls.. and wonderful for the cold weather. 

I have a lot of pumpkins to use and so have been thinking of fun ways to use them. We love pumpkin/potato soup, so I made that. Of course it was a bit different than I usually make it, as my kids joke that I rarely make things the same way twice. :)  I was in an experimenting mood and this really turned out to be good... very savory with a hint of sweetness. My whole family loved it and asked that I remember how I made it so that I can do it again... so I wrote it down... and here it is. :)

First, I started with butter and added diced fresh onions and garlic and sauteed it for about 10 minutes. 

Here are some of my pumpkins that I an using. Yum....   The one I used for this recipe was about 9" tall x about 10" wide... similar to the one in the middle.... and I used the entire pumpkin in this soup, but it was a big soup. I actually doubled the recipe below, so you would need a smaller pumpkin for the recipe.

We removed the seeds and strings, then peeled about half of the pumpkin and cut the pumpkin into chunks... maybe about 1" size.

The other half of the pumpkin was put on foil on a cookie sheet with a little water and baked for about 30 minutes.

 The pumpkin chunks were added to the pot and so were the potatoes, celery, carrots...

 
... and parsley after the parsley was all cut up small.  This cooked for about 30 more minutes or so until the pumpkin chunks were tender. 

I also added spices and seasonings at  this time (I added more later on also).

Here is the pot of soup so far..... next I divided it into the two crockpots (They are both about 6 quart crockpots.)

 The recipe below is for 1 - 6 quart crockpot... I doubled it to make it for my family.

Once they were in the crockpots, I added about 12 cups of water since the pot of soup so far was very thick and I was just sauteeing and cooking the vegetables. I also scooped out the baked pumpkin and added that to the soup and stirred it in.

Once in the crockpot, I added more freshly ground seasoning...  a mixture of Celtic salt, pepper, dill weed, dill seed, rosemary, dried onions, dried garlic, crushed red pepper and savory.  I make it into a mixture and grind it on top of the soup. You can see how to do that here  Grind Your Own Seasoning .... Easily... ....

You can also just add the spices instead of using the grinder. I like adding more at this point... the ones I added earlier have cooked into the vegetables... now these will simmer together and enhance the flavors.

 Then the soup simmered for about 4 hours. Oh, the house smelled so good. :)

 After the hours of simmering, I added sour cream and mixed it in. Then I spooned out about half of each crockpot and put it in the blender and blended it.  After pouring it back into the crockpot and stirring it all together, the soup became very creamy... and it smelled great.

We also made homemade dinner rolls using my Basic Homemade Bread Recipe. The hot dinner rolls were a wonderful addition to the meal.

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                               Creamy Pumpkin Potato Soup

              1/4 cup butter
              2 onions, chopped   
              3 cloves garlic, chopped
              4 cups raw pumpkin, cut into small chunks 
Note: Bake the other half of the pumpkin, cut side down, on cookie sheet with 2 Tablespoons water added. Bake for about 30 minutes. It will be used later.
              3 stalks celery, diced
              Large sprig parsley, chopped
              2 1/2 pounds potatoes, cut into pieces ..........Sautee and cook together for about 30-40 min.

              Bake the other half of the pumpkin, cut side down, on cookie sheet with 2 Tablespoons water added. Bake for about 30 minutes.
         
              1 1/2 Tablespoons chicken bullion powder
              1/2 teaspoon salt
              1/4 teaspoon black pepper
              1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
              1/4 teaspoon paprika
              1/4 teaspoon basil
              1 teaspoon tumeric
              1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
              1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
              1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
              1/4 teaspoon allspice
              1 Tablespoon bacon bits   ........................... all spices can be added while cooking on stove

          After cooking on stove for 30-40 minutes, transfer to crockpot. Then add.....
               6 cups water (or more)
               The rest of the cooked pumpkin, scraped from skin and added to soup
               Grind spices over the top generously.  Grind Your Own Seasoning.... Easily  is what I used... or you can add them separately. They are listed here:
                Celtic Salt
                Pepper
                Dill Seed
                Dill Weed
                Rosemary
                Dried Onions
                Dried Garlic
                Crushed Red Pepper
                Savory   .............I mix all of these up in my own grinder as show in the link above... or season to your own taste.

  Simmer in the crockpot for 3 - 4 hours, then add 
                 1 cup sour cream 
                 Salt and Pepper to taste

   Blend about half of the soup in a blender, then add back to the crockpot and mix together. The result is a very creamy and savory soup with a hint of sweetness.  Serve with fresh bread or dinner rolls.  Optional garnish of sliced green onions, cheese, bacon bits.

  I cooked this on the stove and then in the crockpot. It would also work to put everything into the crockpot and simmer 8 hours or so. I didn't have that much time and had to rush things a bit. This soup has a very unique flavor that my family just loved... and the fresh dinner rolls and butter went nicely with it. If you don't have all of the spices, just use what you have and see what you come up with... it should still taste great! :) 

          This makes enough to put into a 6 quart crockpot, but amounts can be adjusted if needed.
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