The Best Laid Plans and Coconutty Pumpkin Soup

(My foster dogs at the airport last night)

It has been a week now that I have been back to 80/20 Paleo.  I must say that I feel great.  I am even starting to not like the site of foods that I would have grab before if I was in a hurry and starving (aka nastiness).  It is a great feeling to be in control of food and not have the food control me. 

But, enough with the deep serious stuff.

This week has been a crazy one.  I have started a new job and am in training right now.  It is only suppose to be part time, but we have run over a couple days this week which has made for some long days.  Then I had two dogs that I was preparing to put on a plane to send to the UK to a new foster home which included chasing all the needed paperwork.  Lets just say that turned into an unplanned whole day affair with me going to the vet twice, the airport three times and then spending an hour at the KLM ticketing office down town buying the tickets.  Needless to say, my well planned week was a fiasco. 

I have started trying to plan weekly menus.  This includes breakfast, lunch and dinner.  Not only does this help me stay on track with Paleo eating because I always (well mostly) know what I will be eating at anytime, but it keeps me from spending hours in the grocery store and wasting money on things that eventually go in the trash due to spoilage.  As we all know, fresh food doesn't last that long over here in the Middle East;  three days is the most you can hope to get out of produce.  So having a plan and knowing exactly what you need for those three days has been a great thing for me.

Because my schedule has kind of thrown my week off, the menu I planned got thrown out the window.  Instead, I have been getting a bit creative and using what I had bought to make up some new things that keep the eating interesting and new (as you all know I get bored easily).  So, I actually have 3 new recipes for you guys, but will only be posting one today.  This recipe evolved as a quick and delicious side dish to go with the Spanish pork kebabs I made.  It was born from needing to use up the rest of a pumpkin I had purchased.  Everything else that I added was just because my brain said,

"ooohhhh, that sounds like it would go together good".

SO, with no further ado, I bring you Coconutty Pumpkin Soup.

3 C Pumpkin (peeled and chopped)

2 Carrots (chopped)

¼ of large onion (chopped)

5 strawberries (chopped)

½ orange pepper (chopped)

½ tsp ground coriander

½ tsp sea salt

½ tsp sage

1 C chicken stock

1 can coconut milk

2 Tbsp Cilantro (chopped)

Salt to taste

¼ tsp black pepper

 Add first 9 ingredients to large pot.  Bring to a boil then cover and simmer on low until veggies are tender (keep an eye on it and DON’T let all the stock evaporate) Use stick blender (or put in food processor) and process until mostly smooth.  If you used a blender put it back in pot.  Add coconut milk salt and pepper and mix well.  Heat on low temp until just hot then mix in cilantro and serve. 

 

This recipe is delicious just the way it is, but it also lends itself nicely to any modifications you may want to make.  For instance, you could add some curry powder to make is more Indian in flavor.  Or maybe some chili powder or cayenne pepper and make it a bit spicy.  If you wanted a one pot dinner dish, add some precooked chopped chicken or andouille sausage (just add about another cup of chicken stock to keep the consistency the  same).  There are a million possibilities, only limited by your imagination.