But after I saw this video from PureWow.com, I decided to try something really pumpkin: Pumpkin Soup cooked IN a pumpkin.
I'm not a great cook and recipes often frustrate me because they leave out important information, like saying it only takes 20 minutes to prepare while leaving out all the time it takes to chop zillions of vegetables. And I get so easily distracted. Cooking requires a feel for food that I just lack. But after watching this video I felt inspired! It seemed so easy!
(Spoiler Alert: I probably didn't make the best decisions for this project. Another reason the kitchen isn't where I shine.)
Last week my oldest was home for two days with pneumonia and I had to go to Walgreens to pick up some medicine for my son. And I saw they were selling pumpkins! And - get this - I already had a sliced leek in the fridge! It seemed like fate was telling me to make this soup.
I gathered up the chicken stock, garlic, herbs, and pulled my pre-chopped leek out of the fridge.
Then we dumped in the ingredients just like the video described and popped the pumpkin in the oven.
Then we took it right back out because I forgot the parmesan cheese.
Then we put it back in, right on the rack. Later, when I read the recipe they describe putting it on a baking sheet, but that key detail was left out of the video.
As the soup cooked, the house was filled with this incredible aroma. Everyone thought it smelled good. The kids were actually getting excited to try this soup. But then I opened the oven and they got their first look at the pumpkin. They were devastated. Kids eat with their eyes SO MUCH that this shriveled, burnt, diseased looking pumpkin outweighed their olfactory senses and turned them right off to this dinner. Also, I couldn't get the pumpkin off the rack, so I had to drag the entire rack out of the oven and put it on our cooktop.

I scraped out as much pumpkin flesh as possible and then served three cups of pumpkin soup with croutons. The reactions were varied: My youngest loved the croutons soaked in broth, topped with more parmesan cheese. My oldest cried when he saw it and said he didn't think he could eat it. I ate it but didn't enjoy chewing the leeks and the pumpkin flesh wasn't that smooth. I actually had to bite into it, which I didn't expect. My middle son and my husband never even gave it a chance.

Yet again, I learned that there are some instinctive qualities that go into making one an excellent cook and that I probably just don't have those. But that doesn't stop me from trying!
If you make this soup and it's a raging success, let me know what you did differently. And give me some.
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