Pumpkin soup and honey mustard dressing

It's a little disheartening when an ingredient you cherish so much doesn't seem to be appreciated by the people you are cooking for. But parents of young toddlers also know that you have to persist in giving a picky child a food that they previously reject - they say up to 15 times!



Extending on this principle and hoping that it will apply to the bigger boy in this family (er-hem you know who), I persisted in another pumpkin innovation - by making a cream of vegetable soup that uses up the remaining quarter of a pumpkin I had left!

Besides, pumpkin is such a rich source of essential minerals - like potassium and zinc and not to forget vitamins and beta-carotenes too.

Thankfully, the boys liked it.

The good thing about this soup is that you can use up leftover veg in the fridge.Here it is, and here is how I made it:


Ingredients:
1 onion - minced
3 cloves of garlic - minced
quarter pumpkin (or any squash) - cubed
1 courgette/ zucchini - cubed
1 potato - cubed
2 carrots - cubed
Chicken stock (from cube)

Goes with:
a slice of cheddar (the cheap kind)
homemade croutons (just bread fried in a touch of olive oil with pepper and mixed italian herbs)

Main: Pork Rissoles (buy from local meat vendor and pop into grill/oven) with salad

Prep:
Fry the onion and garlic in a bit of oil till soft, then add the potato and carrot to soften gently over medium-low heat for another 10-15 minutes. Add the remaining squash (pumpkin and zuchini) and cover the ingredients with the stock to bring to a boil then let simmer for about 5 to 10 minutes. Liquidize using a hand-blender, add cheese (optional cream) and croutons, and voila!

For accompanying salad, I just used up some lettuce and tomato topped with sultanas, and made a simple dressing using honey, a bit of olive oil and Dijon mustard.


Me and my muse for inventive cooking - the picky eater.

More food experiments later.