Good Bye Summer & Hello Fall....

Last Thursday 9/30 we said good-bye to summer and hello to fall with pumpkin-ginger-lime soup. This is a recipe from Kathy’s Cappers cooking class. The soup has a little kick to it, which might be due to my poor measuring skills with the cayenne pepper. Try it with some yummy bread on a crisp fall evening!

Pumpkin-Ginger-Lime Soup

1 cans pumpkin puree

3 cans vegetable broth

1 can per nectar (I used apple juice instead- much cheaper!)

1/3 cup creamy peanut butter

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

2 TBSP grated ginger root

2 TBSP finely chopped green onion

1 TBSP line juice

½ tsp salt

¼ tsp cayenne pepper

Toasted pumpkin seeds (sorry girls this was missing- it was too early for me to have pumpkin seeds!)

Chopped chives

In a sauce pan combine pumpkin puree, broth, and pear nectar. Bring to boil over high heat. Cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer 10 minutes. In a blender or food processor, process 1 cup pumpkin mixture (from sauce pan) with peanut butter until smooth. Return to sauce pan with remaining pumpkin mixture. Add garlic, ginger root, green onion, lime juice, salt and cayenne pepper; cook 10 minutes over medium heat. Divide soup among bowls and garnish with pumpkin seeds and chives. Serve immediately.

Of course no girls’ night would be complete without dessert. While we chatted about everyone’s upcoming weekend and previous vacations (we are pretty busy ladies) we enjoyed a second bottle of wine and some good old fashion Betty Crocker Brownies. No need to post the recipe, just buy the $2 red box at any grocery store! I must say the highlight of the night might have been my 15 minute fight with a wax closure wine bottle. Amanda told us all about her plans for Tiff’s upcoming Birthday / Halloween party while I physically fought this wine bottle with the small knife of a wine opener (meant for the thin foil closure- not crazy red wax cover)!

Already I am craving Emily’s vodka pasta we will be enjoying this week. Can’t wait for our large group will be together again!

One last thought… I would be lying if I didn’t admit that I am nervous for Tiff to ready this and find all the grammatical errors.

Until next time...

~Nelle