I'm so glad you found a good pumpkin soup recipe. I have a can in the cubbard. this sounds like good Sunday Supper fare.

That's so great that this one worked out better for you. It sounds delicious. Sorry about the little pumpkin - at least the kids got a plaything for a few days. Though it probably would have been better as soup than as moldy garbage-can-fodder. Oh well. :-)

Wow! I stumbled onto your Blog by accident and am in love! I can't wait to share it with my friends at church and work. We too think crock pots rock. Thank you for the recipes and ratings.

oh ps my name is Claire and I found you from Gayla who had posted to my friend Betty Cornett's blog, who I know from Porter Memorial Baptist Church. I am only a little bit strange. :)

I love this pumpkin soup recipe. I'm going to have to try it. I really get caught up with pumpkin soup in the fall. Here is my pumpkin soup recipe on my blog:
http://samaraandaaron.blogspot.com/2008/10/roasted-garlic-pumpkin-soup-with-beer.html

YUM! I am going to make this soup for a party I am throwing next week, thanks!

OH! Can you reveal your polenta equation for the crockpot again? I know you had it in one of your posts, but I can't find which one :(

Thanks so much!!!
Heidi :)

Samara, your link is broken. I'd like to check out your pumpkin soup recipe so could you please re-post the link?

This soup sounds fabulous! I'm definitely going to give it a try.

Yum, yum! I must try this!

BTW, since I stumbled on to your wonderful blog late in the year, and haven't had time to go through most of the posts yet, I was wondering if you'll keep this blog up for a while afterwards (or perhaps continue this adventure next year)?

Thank you!!

What??! You mean you aren't going to do a "year of the toaster oven?" "year of the kitchen mixer?" :-)

Glad you aren't going anywhere!

Is this the little girl I carried? Is this the little boy at play?
I don't remember growing older. When did they? When did she get to be a beauty? When did he grow to be so tall? Wasn't it yesterday when they were small? Sunrise, sunset. Sunrise, sunset. Swiftly flow the years. One season following another, laden with happiness and tears.

I love Fiddler on the Roof!

The real question is whether anyone at the dinner table said, "Jamaican me crazy!"

I think I might have to add this to my list of recipes to try.

When is your book coming out? I'm interested in buying, but I'd like to know when it's coming.

Ummmm, sounds yummy. I'm thinking this would be a good first course for a Thanksgiving dinner.

Stephanie, BTW, I am always impressed that you have all of your ingredients ready for the camera before you begi. I know that's how Mom (and Girl Scouts and Home Ec teachers) taught us to cook, but really - don't you ever get halfway through a recipe and have to send a kid down to the basement for a can of broth or over to the neighbor's for an onion?!

Thanks for blogging, as always.

If Mrs. Pumpkin Head hadn't been so worn out, how would you have cooked it? The only way I have ever dealt with pumpkin is from a can. This soup sounds lovely, and there was an Afghani pumpkin dish I love made of fresh pumpkin (don't have the recipe because I didn't speak the language, but I tried to make it anyway), but I was never able to get the fresh pumpkin to turn out soft of as sweet.

This recipe sounds awesome! I am thinking of making some pumpkin bread in one crock pot and soup in the other!

I think you are getting excited about the year ending, you skipped day 298 ;)

Keep up the great work!

OH NO! Pumpkincide. ;)

Steph@
http://wasabimon.com

I'm confused...are you supposed to cook the pumpkin before making the soup? Isn't canned pumpkin cooked pumpkin? Help!

Hi Astrid! You're right canned pumpkin is already cooked, but the original recipe asked for fresh. The crockpot is on long enough to cook the fresh pumpkin. I'd go for it!

xox
steph

OOps. I used baked butternut squash (that's what I had)...I'm cooking the soup right now. We'll see if it turns out. It smells really good!

My kids hated the soup! My husband ate it and so did I, but I wouldn't bother again! I'm sorry;-(. I'll keep trying!

I made this yesterday and it was a winner! My husband (who is quite picky about texture and about cooked veggies) really liked it, my 3 year old LOVED it and I really enjoyed it also! I have a ton of fresh pumpkin I'm trying to use up and this was the perfect way to use it. I think I may add a drop or two of liquid smoke next time.

Thanks for all the fantastic recipes!

I have a couple of pumpkins from a local farm that are too small to carve. This would be perfect for them! I'm going to make it today (since we're stuck inside, being sick on Halloween. =/)

I'm making this right now and snuck a bite. Soooo good. I added a little curry powder and it helped make it a little more Jamaican, man!
Luckily we are eating early tonight. I couldn't wait until 6 to eat this.

I made this soup last night and loved it. I have another pumpkin soup that I make every year and I'm thinking that I will switch between the two.

I make mine a little different though. I couldn't find canned pumpkin at the store, so I used an acorn squash that I had at home. I forgot to add the ginger and only used ½ the turmeric.

I think it turned out wonderful and so did my husband. He said it would have been better with the heavy cream but I didn't give him that option.

bwhahahhahaa on not giving hubby the option! lol! that made coffee squirt everywhere...
;-)
xox
steph

I really enjoyed this soup. My husband was just okay with it. But the big surprise was how big a hit it was with my 8-month-old. She loved it! She recently started refusing to be fed anything. But she has happily slurped down large servings of this soup several times. This makes a lot so I froze two ice cube trays of soup for future easy meals for her. Thanks!

This is about the most well-written recipe i've looked at in a while. I haven't tried it yet, i just wanted to say that i enjoy how you've composed it.

I just got a crock pot, an old one, from my mother. Is it honestly just as simple as throwing in the goods, turning it on and waiting?

This was indeed gorgeous! It was even pretty going into the crockpot:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/catalogthis/3380347049/

found your blog from blogher and really enjoyed browsing, will keep posted, I love my crock pot and especially during the busy fall months

FYI, this works equally well on high for 4 hours...

enjoying a bowl as we speak!

making this for a party of 10 ladies, will serve in cups as we will have other things to eat. do you think I should double it and will a double recipe fit in one crock pot?

Hi Close to Home,

I think if you serve it in small cups, this is enough. I am concerned with doubling and being able to fit in a 6 or 6.5 quart----it might bubble over.

You can also add the cream to the pot, and then serve----since you're in charge of the cream, you can make as much more volume as you think you might need.

xxo steph

I've made this twice now (once subbing squash for the pumpkin), and I highly recommend adding a can of coconut milk to it when it's time to purree the soup. Really smooths it out and balances the flavors. Also, for a garnish I chop apples and add cranberries and/or raisins, cinnamon, and a bit of honey, then stir. Fantastic recipe - thanks!!

Okay, we tried this today and to be perfectly honest it wasn't very good. The flavor was really off... it seemed like there was too much ginger and something else wasn't quite right either. I added some vanilla yogurt and that made it a bit better (thanks to a previous poster for the idea!) I'll play around with it some more, but overall I was really disappointed. Sorry!

trying this today - would recommend 1 tsp of nutmeg (at least) instead of the 1/4th. Nutmeg is THE secret ingredient in a good white sauce, particularly if you're using it for lasagne. Nutmeg is AWESOME! I'll let you know how it goes.

Okay, nutmeg, yes. Also added a bit of cumin, the 1/2 cup of lite coconut milk someone else suggested (I know, it's a whole nother soup now) and a small handful of grated mild Colby cheese. Delicious!!! Family loved it.

I'm sorry stephanie, but I really really did not like this soup. I like all the ingredients separately, but I didn't find they went together well. My husband and brother found it edible, and very Jamaican tasting. I usually love your recipes. I guess I'm not into Jamaican flavors...
What i'm most surprised about is that most people seemed to like it, and I'm not a picky eater at all! hmm, oh well, I tried =)

Checked out your cookbook at the library last week and I'm trying this recipe tonight.

I'm using the CrockPot I won from your site, too!

HOW COME I DUNNO THAT SOUP? N I;M J'CAN!! LOL

ITS "JAMAICA, ME CRAZY"
IDK WTH IT MEAN THOUGH.. ITS JUST SOMETHING THAT TOURISTS LOVE TO SAY.. LIKE "YEAH *MON"
WHEN WE DONT SAY MON.. LOL

I know this is an olllld post but I just wanted to say I made this yesterday and it is AWESOME! I had to use sweet potatoes instead of yams as my store didn't have them, but otherwise I followed it to the letter (including the "I forgot to put the green onions on" part. doh.) Delicious. It took me a moment to warm up to it as the ginger flavor another poster mentioned did make me pause, but after about 3 bites I tucked in and devoured 2 servings on my own. This one is a keeper.

I love this recipe and the story. You write with such wit. Thank you for taking the time to entertain and inform us with this pumpkin recipe and story. I love it.

I had the same issue as an anonymous poster above. It just tasted.... off. It smelled great when cooking all day. And I love all the ingredients that went into it. But the soup itself just tasted weird and not like any of the ingredients. Won't be making again. But I've had lots of success with other recipes on here so I'm not going anywhere!

I've made this soup many times and I love it. The only part I do differently is the ginger; I've used dry instead of fresh, and the last time I made it I was out of ginger so I skipped it altogether. Soup still tasted great. I've never felt the need for the cream because it seems creamy enough to me once I've stick-blended.

This is one of my favorites!

This was amazing!!! I made it this morning and brought two containers to work... I want to eat them both now! I am not an allspice kind of girl... But I bought it and tried it. Delicious!!! Lots of exclamation points here, but this recipe deserves it. The only change I made was to sprinkle in about 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper.... And used coconut milk instead of cream. This will be a go to for me.

I made this the other day. Everything I've tried from your site has been awesome, but this was a total flop for us. It smelled so great while cooking, but something about the flavor was very off for us. I know none of the ingredients were spoiled. We ended up throwing out the whole batch. Bummer! But I'm definitely going to try a bunch more of your recipes!

Have you ever eaten this as leftovers? Wondering if I can make it a couple days in advance and warm it up in the slow cooker to serve to company the next day? Thanks!

Another question... Since the size of yams and red onions varies....do you have a guess on quantity (in cups) you use in each? Thanks again!

Hi Rachel, the slow cooker really isn't designed to "reheat" foods. I know people use it this way -- but it's technically for cooking. Because it is so low in temp the worry is that food will be in the "food danger zone" for too long and not get to the proper heated temp quick enough when reheating.

That said. Yes, this soup reheats nicely. I suggest getting it hot quickly in either the microwave or on the stove and then transferring it to the crockpot to keep warm.

As for the yams -- this is a pumpkin soup; so I used a 15 -ounce can, and have written approx 2 cups.
and for the red onion -- it really doesn't matter all that much. Pick a medium-sized one.
:-)

I hope this helps a bit! enjoy!

This is one of my favorites! Even my husband who doesn't care much for soup likes this one. (Haven't gotten the kids to come around yet, though) I end up freezing the extras and then reheat on the stove or microwave.