The Sweatshop of Love Blog

I had every intention of making Hungry Girl’s Sassy Salsa Pumpkin Soup last night. My mom has made and loves this soup, my friend Liz sent me the recipe last week talking about how amazing it is. PT had a long and ridiculous week at work, so I was going to be a good girlfriend and make him some focaccia, which is quickly becoming our favorite bread.

But there is a shortage of canned pumpkin. I guess the crop last year was much smaller than usual, and I couldn’t find it anywhere. Pumpkin pie mix? Yes. Pumpkin? No. I went to Target, CVS, Strack and Van Til, and Walgreens and there was no canned pumpkin.

So I got a pumpkin! It’s pumpkin season, they are everywhere, this one cost $1.35, which is probably less than a can of pumpkin would cost me. The problem, of course, is I also needed milk, and my bike doesn’t have a lot of trunk space, so it was a slow trip home.

(See the tape recorder in there, too? I’ve got to transcribe an interview this weekend for Grocer Gram. And my Glorified Necklace! Which I take everywhere.)

I love pumpkin soup made with a pumpkin, so I wasn’t sorry to see that my easy pumpkin soup was going to have to be traded in for a much more complicated one. Because this recipe is worth it.

I made this soup a million times last fall and have perfected the recipe. It is based on the Pumpkin recipe in The Ultimate Vegetarian Cookbook by Roz Denny I found at a thrift store last summer and love love love. The Pumpkin recipe, though, is a PAIN IN THE ASS. I did it exactly like how it tells me to in the cookbook only once, because getting the pumpkin flesh out without chopping up the pumpkin is only something I would do for a very special occasion. A Friday night is not that occasion.

Baking, slicing, skinning, and chopping up a pumpkin is a messy business. But I would do it again. And again. And am going to do it again and again. Because there is nothing like freshly baked pumpkin soup.

Without further ado, my pumpkin soup recipe:

Pumpkin Soup, With A Pumpkin

Serves 4 Really Hungry People

Ingredients:

1/2 a pie pumpkin

1 onion, sliced

Oil; veggie, canola, olive, whatever you’ve got

1 14 oz can of tomatoes; diced or stewed, doesn’t matter

1 cup whole wheat pasta, any shape

2 cups veggie stock

2 cloves of garlic. diced

Vegetables; again, whatever you’ve got! Zucchini, yellow squash, mushrooms, carrots, celery, broccoli, corn, and any combination, totaling about 4 cups

Beans (optional) – half a can, or about a cup, add a lot to the soup

Salt, pepper, ginger to taste

Directions:

1. Move your oven rack to the lowest level and preheat oven to 350. Cut off the top of your pumpkin just like you would if you were making a jack-o-lantern, and scoop out the seeds and the loose gunk. No need to clean it too much; you are slicing this baby open soon, so that will make it a lot easier.

2. Bake pumpkin with the lid on for 45 minutes. Take the top off and let it cool until you can handle it. Skin it and chop it up! I think it’s easiest to cut the pumpkin into 4ths, skin it, and then cut it into chunks. Save half of it – it will stay good in your fridge for like 2 weeks.

3. In a big soup pot, saute onion and pumpkin on medium heat in oil till onion is cooked, about 10 minutes.

4. Add veggies and cook for about 5 minutes, or longer, depending on your veggies. Stir in tomatoes, stock, pasta, beans if you so choose, and seasonings. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and let simmer 10 minutes.

5. Serve! Add more seasonings if necessary – this soup is great with lots of fresh ground pepper.

Last night I made it with two carrots, half a yellow squash, and the left over beans from burritos the other night. It made me wish I had pinto beans on hand because pinto beans are so good in this soup! But mine were all dried. Next time!

The focaccia turned out really well, though a little dense because of the humidity yesterday. It just made it crispier, which is always welcomed.

They kitties were waiting at the table, wondering what was taking so long for their dinners! PT hardly had the patience to let me take this picture, though, our dinner smelled so good!

I was hoping it was not going to come to this.

I was using some leftover Knit Picks Gloss from a sweater I knit a few years ago for my Twilight/Gloaming Shawl. The sweater is Thermal on Knitty.com, and I liked it, but then I lost 30 pounds so it didn’t fit anymore. It’s been sitting in the back of my closet in a pile of stuff I can’t get rid of but will eventually figure out how to fix.

I was within four rows of finishing the shawl without tearing up my sweater. But, alas, it needed to be done. And that fatty sweater in the bottom of my closet wasn’t doing me any favors. So I tried not to think about it, un-seemed a sleeve, and ripped!

And I finished my shawl! And I’m not even sad that I had to amputate my sweater because I couldn’t wear it. No matter how many hours I spent on that sweater, it’s unwearable.

But this shawl is ridiculously wearable! I’ve pretty much been wearing it since it dried after blocking. And you have to seriously block the crap out of this shawl. I made the big size, and after I bound it off I was seriously underwhelmed. It was tiny!

But I blocked it, with the help of Pudge Rodriguez, and it is stunning. I mean, I’m wearing it right now in a wife beater and pajama pants. I’m in love with this little shawl.

I finished my shawl, PT finished some fancy producer work, so we thought it would be a great night to celebrate with a trip to Irazu. We went to Irazu once before and were totally in love, and trip two didn’t disappoint!

We ordered empanadas to start: beef and potato for PT, and a black bean and a spinach and cheese to share. They were outstanding! We split the shrimp and veggie dinner special with the amazing Costa Rican rice, cabbage salad, and sweet fried plantains. The entire meal, then the entire rest of the night, we kept saying, ‘Man that was a great meal!’

Man, was that a great meal! I’m still not over it.

I am finally giving in and knitting one of those lacy shawls that everyone is knitting. This project has been on my radar for a while because every time I jump on ravelry.com, every time I read a blog, someone is working on one!

I haven’t seen a lot of patterns I’ve liked, though. They all look pretty basic and, while cute, I couldn’t picture myself wearing any of them. Shawls are nice, but when they are knit with sock yarn they don’t keep you warm. They are basically glorified necklaces, and when you are talking jewelry you can’t mess around.

Then I saw this finished shawl on Team Knit, a blog I’m liking more and more! It’s the Twilight/Gloaming Shawl by Phoe M White. The finished shawl is beautiful, and Julie’s write-up totally sold me. I even BOUGHT the pattern, if you can believe it. Here is the ravelry.com page.

I’m using Knit Picks Gloss yarn, which is 70% merino wool and 30% silk, in Concord Grape. I had some of this yarn left over from a sweater I knit ages ago that is now too big for me and the perfect example of why knitters can’t lose or gain weight. It’s going to have to be pulled out at some point, but I don’t have the heart for it yet.

So far so good! I’m in the easy beginner part and have yet to start the lacy edging. Weekend football project!!

Last night I cooked up some carrot fries to have with a cheese and veggie sandwich!

Carrot Fries (for 2)

3 big carrots

1 tbsp oil

BBQ seasoning

Preheat over to 450

Drizzle oil (olive, vegetable, whatever!) in the bottom of a baking pan. Slice carrots to look like fries and put in pan. I sprinkle mine with some BBQ seasoning, but you can use whatever you want to. Just salt and pepper is even good!

Bake for 10 minutes, stir, bake for 10 minutes longer. Done! If you slice your carrots thicker they might take more than 20 minutes.

Carrot fries taste just like sweet potato fries but are healthier and take a shorter time to bake. And they help dress up a sandwich dinner!