Friday, October 16, 2009

Chai Spice Pumpkin Soup with Apple


I want to tell you today about a group I have joined some time ago called Bloggeraid. Giz of Equal Opportunity Kitchen and Val of More Than Burnt Toast started the group. It is ever growing and expanding with exciting opportunities and chances to meet other bloggers in the forums. But what makes it great is that it is a pooling of strength to help those that are no so fortunate. Bloggeraid raises awareness and is aiming to help people in need with money raised from the book which is due to be released soon. The cookbook, BloggerAid…Changing the Face of Famine is an international network of food bloggers united behind the cause of ending global hunger. Members use their blogs as a platform for raising awareness about hunger in communities at home and abroad.

Have you thought of writing your own cookbook? The Cookbook People can make that happen. In their words " We're committed to helping families keep their cherished recipes, so we designed our own family cookbook software. Matilda's Fantastic Cookbook Software prints your home-made family cookbooks. One copy…or as many copies as you want. Whenever YOU want. Because you make it yourself on your own computer! " The Cookbook People have not only donated a software package as a prize to BloggerAid, they went the extra mile. They set out a challenge to all members of BloggerAid - Changing the Face of Famine. They are willing to donate $20 to our charity for every member who creates a blog post about their site. Take a trip over to their site - have a look around. They will ship worldwide and are wonderful people to work with.

CHAI SPICED PUMPKIN SOUP with apple

4 cups pumpkin puree ( you can use canned (2) or roast and blend your own pumpkin)
4 cups chicken broth
1 small onion chopped
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 teaspoon of chai spice (recipe following)
1 apple, preferrably a hard, tart apple
salt to taste

If you are roasting your own pumpkin: Roast pumpkins cut side down in a 425F oven until softened. When you press on the pumpkin it should depress quite easily.

Saute onion in vegetable oil until soft. Add pumpkin and broth and let simmer for twenty minutes. Add chopped apple and chai spice. Cook fifteen minutes more. Blend all the ingredients and return to pot. Add salt to taste.

Chai Spice Blend

2 tsp cinnamon (ground)
2 tsp green cardamom (ground)
2 tsp cloves (ground)
1 tsp ginger (ground)
1 tsp coriander (ground)
1 teaspoon white pepper

Combine all ingredients in a glass jar to stoe. Stir small amounts into tea or use in recipes.

13 comments:

LittleRed said...

I have often ordered a good pumpkin soup in restaurants....but never made one myself. This looks yummy!

giz said...

Great job Lori - first of all the soup looks amazing and also another $20 goes to Children's Meals with the World Food Programme!!!!

Anonymous said...

What a great cause and yummy sounding recipe.

Katy ~ said...

Last year I purchased the Matilda's Fantastic Cookbook software and used it for a fundraiser at the hospital where I work. I cannot say enough positive comments about about the product or the people who work there. When I ran into a couple of rough spots, their support team was with me and we worked it out. The cookbook was a huge success, bring in over 25% of the total proceeds of the fundraiser. People love good food!!

And speaking of good food, this soup looks dee-lish. so seasonal and beautiful!

grace said...

bloggeraid is a terrific endeavor--good for you for joining up!
awesome soup, too. apples and chai spices are about as perfect as apples and cinnamon alone, and i'm sure the soup is all the better for it!

Mary Bergfeld said...

What a wonderful endeavor. Your soup is just awesome.

Screamin' Mama said...

Wonderful contribution to a great cause. Looks delicious!

Fresca said...

This recipe is perfect timing: yesterday I baked a butternut squash with no idea what I was going to do with it. Then today I bought apples at the farmer's market.
And now, this Sunday evening, here is a way to combine the two.
What a nice gift! Thank you.

And bloggeraid too!

Lauren said...

Wow. This sounds delicious =D. I love anything with pumpkin, but adding apple just makes it that much more amazing.

Ingrid_3Bs said...

I wanna live next door to you. That way I really don't need to extend myself trying to make these recipes which intrigue yet scare me. I could just wonder over for "chats" around mealtimes.

Did you see the whole game? I finally turned the game off at the bottom of the 13th! If only I would have waited another minute or two but I HAD to go to bed. The twins had baseball and one of them needed to be up 7:30!

I didn't say (didn't want to hurt anyone's feelings or discourage anyone else who is trying to get over yeast) but while the butterhorns looked good, they were kinda dry. It was noticeable after they cooled. I think I added too much flour during my patting out and rolling of the dough but I had to it was sticky and after all that flour it was STILL sticky. All that said I'm gonna stick with it and bake my babies some cinnamon rolls.
~ingrid

kat said...

oooooooh, I just bought pumpkins to make soup today & love chai spice!

Donna-FFW said...

Gorgeous color on this soup. I love how it sounds and the homemade chai spice, so making this.

Murasaki Shikibu said...

I love pumpkin and this recipe sounds really promising. Gotta get myself a nice pumpkin first though! :)