I sure wish I had my Pumpkin and Carrot Soup when I was growing up in Michigan. It sure would have kept me warm during my Halloween adventures as a child.

I always froze in my Halloween costumes, when I was going door to door trick-or-treating. Michigan weather was always chilly or bitterly cold in October – we even had to trick-or-treat while it was snowing, sometimes!

Living in sunny Florida now, it gets a little chilly in October, and I make Pumpkin and Carrot Soup recipe every year on Halloween. When I give out Halloween treats to the children, the Pumpkin and Carrot Soup aroma is throughout the house, and the kids say, “Mmm… what are you cooking?”

Ingredients

1 tablespoon grapeseed oil

2 yellow onions, diced

1 red bell pepper, diced

1 pound carrots, peeled and diced

1 can pumpkin

1 potato, diced

4 cups vegetable bouillon soup base, prepared according to package directions

1/2 cup cilantro

1 whole pumpkin

Preparation

Heat grapeseed oil in a large pot over medium heat.

Add the onion and bell pepper; cook until the onions are soft and translucent about 7 minutes.

Add the carrots, pumpkin can, potatoes, and prepared vegetable bouillon soup base.

Cover and simmer for 30 minutes.

Puree the soup, cilantro in a blender until smooth, working in batches if necessary. (Add other spices if you want.)

Wash pumpkin cut a 6 – 8 inch circle around top stem.

Use a sharp knife with a long sturdy blade.

Cut at an angle – it keeps the lid from falling into the pumpkin.

Clean out the inside of the pumpkin and brush with the remaining 1 tablespoon grapeseed oil inside and outside of the pumpkin.

Place pumpkin in a shallow sturdy baking pan.

Pour the stew into the pumpkin and replace lid.

Bake in an oven for 2 hours until the pumpkin is tender.

Serve stew from pumpkin, scooping out a little pumpkin with each serving.