What do you do with a big whole squash? When I went back to the city, my mother wanted me to bring this big squash with me, she knows that I love eating this. You can make a lot of dishes using squash, it can be an additional ingredient to sauteéd vegetable dish or be the main ingredient in making pumpkin soup. With this size, it's still a lot to eat for me and my sister.
When I'm preparing and cooking meals, it's always my goal to lessen food waste. I want to cook meals that are enough only for us, I don't like spoiling food just because I cooked a lot of servings. This big squash was quite a challenge for me, how can we consume and preserve this such that it won't go to waste. I made a meal plan! 🤓Turning this to a pumpkin soup is one great hero for people like who don't want to waste food. I knew for sure that it would take a huge chunk of this squash to make a full pot of pumpkin soup. What I love about that soup is that it's not heavy to eat, especially when the soup has less milk.
The first time I made a pumpkin soup, I was very careful in following the recipe I found online. I wanted to make a creamy and tasty pumpkin soup that's perfect as an appetizer for a some how complete meal. The first pumpkin soup I've made was great, I was satisfied with the taste. It was like the one I have tasted before that made me list this soup as my favorite. After making another one after another, I realized that I could make the process of making this soup more simple. The way I used to cook this one is to grate the chunks of squash first and then put it to a low heat pot. Almost all of the ingredients, if not grated are blended to fine bits. It was very time and effort consuming, especially when it's just an appetizer.
My new way or maybe you can call it the lazier way haha of making this soup is to put everything in a medium heat pot and let everything turn soft so that it would be easier to mash using a ladle. You're not going to achieve that smooth textured soup but I'm fine with it. I like this soup a little chunky anyway. Also, I am now making this soup a day after cooking a chicken meal. I've been using a chicken broth from boiled chicken meat, it taste way better than using a store bought chicken stock.
Another step that I've changed in making pumpkin soup is now, I use low-fat milk. I thought it would taste weird and it would make it less creamy on a different level. But I noticed that it doesn't change the texture and thickness of the soup that much. It was a better version for me since I like eating lots of servings of this soup and I didn't want to be full immediately. It became a light version of the pumpkin soup that I used to make.
I was able to use half of the squash in making a full pot of this soup, I was able to make 5 servings and finished all by the end of the day. When I'm cooking my own meals, I always make sure that I have a balanced meal on my plate. Since it's hard to store green leafy vegetables in our fridge, on some days, my vegetable intake comes in the form of Kimchi. It's such a blessing that we're a few meters away from a Korean store, we have easy access to fermented cabbage or Kimchi. I usually pair this side dish with greasy food, for this instance, the spices of the Kimchi neutralizes the grease of the pan fried beef galbi. I have shifted to a diet that's mostly beef and fish since pork is still quite pricey in the market. Out of nowhere, chicken meat and egg have been causing my skin allergy that's why I have lessen my intake of those food.
It was true when I said a while ago in this post that I'm making meal plans. Do you do that too? Before, I have tried being watchful of what I eat because grocery and eating out expenses were very expensive for me. Haha. Since I am home most of the days, I am now making meal plans to eat more healthily. Just a while ago, I have decided to buy a kitchen scale to be more thorough with my meal plans and also for my coffee brewing. 😆I'd like to share more of my journey in eating healthily in the next few days! I hope I can be really consistent with it. If you have any tips, do share it with me. ☺️
I'm going to give you a tip you will thank me for when you try it.
Roast your pumpkin first. Like chop it up, drizzle it with oil, and roast til soft. Fry some onions and add the stock and water, and add your roast pumpkin. The sweet creaminess of it is next level, I assure you!!!
Ohh thank you for that wonderful tip! I'd try it soon because I still have a half of that squash 😆
I use the blender when making pumpkin soup but yeah, squishing it with a ladle will do the trick too. Mahirap maraming hugasin. Haha. But I'm sure going to try @riverflow's suggestion below. :)
PS - I love the way you edit your photos. :)
The washing of dishes whenever I cook is also something that I dread 😆so most of the time I try to minimize the kitchen tools that I'll use haha. Thank you so much ate! ☺️ Nung una gusto ko lang na malinis na background but it's so fun putting on doodles and texts too 😌
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