I can't stop laughing either....went over to the blog in question - too funny! I sent it to my husband and he got a good laugh out of it too. We're both "foodies" in a way, and this was just hilarious...
In any case, now that you have an...(ugly?) green pumpkin-shaped soup tureen, you *need* to make my pumpkin sausage soup!
PUMPKIN SAUSAGE SOUP
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4 carrots
4 celery stalks
1 onion
2 lbs bulk sausage (I like Jimmy Dean All Natural)
6 cups chicken broth
1 large (29 ounce) can pure pumpkin puree (Libby is best, and two ordinary-sized smaller cans will work too)
3 tablespoons chili powder
salt and pepper
olive oil
Chop up the carrot, celery and onion (you're making your own 'mirepoix'). Sautee in a giant soup pot with some olive oil, until the onions have softened. Season with a bit of salt and pepper.
Meanwhile, in a separate frying pan, brown up (and cook thoroughly) the sausage meat. Once the onions/veggies have softened up in the soup pot, and the sausage is browned up - transfer the sausage to the large soup pot, using a slotted spoon. Add six cups chicken broth (ie. 1.5 tetra paks of chicken broth - I like the Pacific brand), and add one giant can of pure pumpkin puree, and the chili powder. Whisk around with a whisk to blend the pumpkin into the broth. Simmer on medium heat for about an hour, until the veggies have cooked through (carrots etc.).
This sounds weird, but it's really quite delicious, and no - the three tbsp. of chili powder does not make it too spicy or anything...it imparts a smoky flavour to the pumpkin. An extremely hearty meal on a cold winter's night. Leftovers are great (for lunch - especially if its cold out). If anything, its even better the next day - the flavours meld very nicely.
You can also freeze the leftovers for another night's dinner when you don't feel like cooking. When I have a batch of this in the freezer, I just plunk the frozen soup into a soup pot on the stove and heat it up until thawed and cooked through - voila! No cooking that night.
The pumpkin sausage soup is low-carb, non-dairy, gluten-free and fairly healthy depending on what kind of sausage you choose. Super filling (a big bowl of this at dinner is definitely a meal) and just wonderful at this time of year.
Enjoy your new soup tureen...lol!!! Not sure I'd bother to transfer it into the tureen, but hey - it's pumpkin soup. It'll work.
eta: just about any kind of sausage will work, breakfast sausage, turkey sausage, what have you. That said, I don't recommend "Italian" sausage for this recipe as the flavours might not go so well with the chili powder and pumpkin. Just a last-minute thought - I've never used Italian sausage with this particular recipe. Usually some form of breakfast sausage or other mild variety.
eta (again!): um...I am not sure I'd ever use a soup tureen for anything....I love to cook and entertain, and cannot imagine using a soup tureen. If I were serving soup - I'd be ladeling it into the bowls from the soup pot on the stove before serving at the table. What in the world are you going to *do* with this thing???? Use it as a jewelry box? Put office supplies into it and keep it on your desk (ie. rubber bands, paper clips) ????? Still laughing over here....
