Harvest Soup and Stock

Alright, so I finally got a day off to work on this lovely soup! Not only that, but before making the soup it's self, I made a lovely vegetable stock to use in future soups and stews. The soup turned out fantastic with all the flavors of autumn, and talk about healthy! Sweet potato, carrot, pumpkin, apple....This is a great soup to have for lunch with some bread, or as the first course to a large dinner.

Then there's the stock. The stock used the peels from the apples, sweet potatoes, potatoes, and other veggies I used in the soup, plus some extra veggies for favor. I'm keeping huge containers of it in the freezers to pull out whenever I need some stock, plus a little in the fridge to use for the week.

So here it is, my Autumn Harvest Soup

Autumn Harvest Soup
4 cups vegetable stock
1 cup pumpkin puree (Or any winter squash, I used some I had already processed)
3 apples
1 pear
1/2 onion
2 carrots
1 parsnip
2 potatoes
1 large sweet potato
a couple leaves of fresh sage, cut into strips
some fresh thyme (I just take a few sprigs and pull the leaves off)
some rosemary (Same as above)
1 T cinnamon
1/2 T ginger powder
2 tsp grated nutmeg
1-1 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp turmeric
1 1/2 tsp garam masala
1 tsp cloves
1 tsp cumin
1-2 T heavy cream or half and half (Or, for a lighter version, use a thicker almond milk)
salt and pepper, to taste

Bring stock to a boil. Chop the fruits and vegetables into fairly large chunks and add to the boiling stock. Boil until all the veggies and fruits are tender. Add herbs, spices, and use a hand held soup blender and blend till smooth. Add pumpkin, and stir until incorporated. Add salt, pepper, and cream and serve.

Now, for the stock....

Homemade Veggie Stock
1/2 onion, with a bay leaf pierced to it with 4 or so cloves, plus the skins of the onion
the peels from the apples, pear, potatoes, sweet potato, carrot, and parsnip
2 celery stalks
some shredded white turnip (not too much! It's very bitter when you add too much)
a couple fennel stalks
2 cinnamon sticks
1 1-inch knob of ginger
1 sprig rosemary
1 sprig thyme
5-6 leaves sage
a few allspice berries
some ground nutmeg
lots and lots of water

Add all ingredients to a pot of cold water, and heat, simmering for hours until the stock stops getting more flavorful.

You can add whatever extra veggies you have on hand to give it even more flavor. I chose not to salt mine, since I could always just add salt to it later, as I need it.

-Lots and lots of Love!
Kat