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Enjoy savory side of pumpkin spice (with a twist)

Recipe: Creamy spiced pumpkin soup warms the season

Pumpkin soup in bowl
Creamy spiced pumpkin soup is as pretty as it tastes. (Photos: Debbie Arrington)



It's pumpkin spice season! This creamy pumpkin soup substitutes curry powder and turmeric for the usual cinnamon and cloves.

If you grow pumpkins, you likely have some mashed pumpkin pulp in the freezer. (Of course, canned pumpkin works in this recipe, too; this soup is a variation of a recipe popularized on the back of pumpkin cans more than 30 years ago.)

Got fresh pumpkin? Steam or zap pumpkin pieces in the microwave; scoop out the flesh with a spoon and mash.

Orange-fleshed winter squash such as butternut or acorn also work in this recipe.


Creamy spiced pumpkin soup

Makes 3 to 4 servings

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons butter or margarine
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon curry powder
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
2 big dashes crushed red pepper (or more to taste)
1-1/2 cups chicken or vegetable broth
1 cup mashed pumpkin
1/4 cup cream
1/4 cup milk
Salt and pepper to taste
Chopped chives (optional)

Instructions:

In a heavy saucepan over medium heat, melt butter. Sauté onions until soft and translucent.

Add garlic powder, curry powder, turmeric and crushed red pepper; stir and cook until well blended, about 1 minute. Add broth and bring to gentle boil. Adjust heat and let simmer 5 minutes.
Add pumpkin, cream and milk. Stir and bring to gentle boil again. Simmer for 5 minutes, stirring often.
Season to taste (depending on the broth, it may need nothing).

Serve hot, garnished with chives.

Note: For a vegan version, omit the cream and milk; use margarine and vegetable broth.

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RECIPE

A recipe for preparing delicious meals from the bounty of the garden.

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Garden Checklist for week of Nov. 3

November still offers good weather for fall planting:

* If you haven't already, it's time to clean up the remains of summer. Pull faded annuals and vegetables. Prune dead or broken branches from trees.

* Now is the best time to plant most trees and shrubs. This gives them plenty of time for root development before spring growth. They also benefit from fall and winter rains.

* Set out cool-weather annuals such as pansies and snapdragons.

* Lettuce, cabbage and broccoli also can be planted now.

* Plant garlic and onions.

* Keep planting bulbs to spread out your spring bloom. Some possible suggestions: daffodils, crocuses, hyacinths, tulips, anemones and scillas.

* This is also a good time to seed wildflowers and plant such spring bloomers as sweet pea, sweet alyssum and bachelor buttons.

* Rake and compost leaves, but dispose of any diseased plant material. For example, if peach and nectarine trees showed signs of leaf curl this year, clean up under trees and dispose of those leaves instead of composting.

* Save dry stalks and seedpods from poppies and coneflowers for fall bouquets and holiday decorating.

* For holiday blooms indoors, plant paperwhite narcissus bulbs now. Fill a shallow bowl or dish with 2 inches of rocks or pebbles. Place bulbs in the dish with the root end nestled in the rocks. Add water until it just touches the bottom of the bulbs. Place the dish in a sunny window. Add water as needed.

* Give your azaleas, gardenias and camellias a boost with chelated iron.

* For larger blooms, pinch off some camellia buds.

* Prune non-flowering trees and shrubs while dormant.

* To help prevent leaf curl, apply a copper fungicide spray to peach and nectarine trees after they lose their leaves this month. Leaf curl, which shows up in the spring, is caused by a fungus that winters as spores on the limbs and around the tree in fallen leaves. Sprays are most effective now.

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