Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Spicy Pumpkin Sausage Soup -- Low Carb & Wheat-free

This evening I was in the mood to have soup for dinner. I wanted to have something "seasonally appropriate"...LOL -- which translates into a sort of "politically correct" for cooks. I decided to make Spicy Pumpkin Sausage Soup. This past weekend I picked up a package of little "three cheese chicken sausage links" from Costco. They are fully cooked; I just browned them a bit in a skillet and sliced them for the soup. They are small links, about the same size and style of "little smokies" if you've ever had those before. I wanted to keep it simple and didn't want to make a real time consuming soup. It turned out delicious and better than I expected. I will definitely make this soup again. 

I have to be honest with you...when hubby called on his way home from work and I told him what I was fixing for dinner, after a really long pause, he said "oh my, that makes my mouth water...and not in a good way"....LOL. I was already well into my preparation of my soup...so my response was "it's too late to turn back now" as I chuckled. I will admit, his response did make me wonder if this was such a good idea, but fortunately I plugged along...and am happy to report that he liked it...he REALLY liked it!!! Now, maybe next time I make it, his mouth will water for the right reasons!  :-)  It was a quick and simple soup to make; it was smooth, spicy, creamy and luscious. We enjoyed our soup with a tablespoon of heavy cream drizzled on top as well as a toasted Easy Cheddar Black Pepper Biscuit on the side. If you prefer it less spicy, reduce the chipotle chile and just add a little bit at a time. You can easily substitute your favorite sausage in place of the chicken sausage I used or omit it entirely if you want a vegan version. If you are avoiding dairy, simply substitute coconut milk in place of the cream. This was the perfect soup for the eve before Halloween. I snapped a few photos below as well as the easy recipe. Enjoy!




These are the little chicken sausage links I sliced and put into the soup
Swirled little cloud of cream on top...

Spicy Pumpkin Sausage Soup
Serves 3 to 4

Ingredients:

1 15-ounce can 100% pure pumpkin
2 cups chicken stock
1/2 teaspoon sea salt, or to taste
Few grinds black pepper
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon ground chipotle chile pepper, or to taste
1 teaspoon Swerve Sweetener, optional
1/4 cup cream
1 tablespoon butter
1-1/2 cups sliced cooked sausage links, (about 16-20 small links)

Directions:

In a 3 quart saucepan over medium heat, combine pumpkin and chicken stock, stir until well blended. Heat mixture until it begins to simmer, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and black pepper, to taste. Add onion powder, chipotle chile pepper, and sweetener. Stir in cream and butter; heat through, just until soup begins to simmer; do not boil. Divide and place sliced sausage links evenly among bowls; ladle soup over the sausage. Garnish with a tablespoon of cream drizzled on top, if desired.


5 comments:

CyberSis said...

Hi GGC,

This creamy pumpkin soup looks delish! Now there's one more thing to look for at Costco! :-)

Gourmet Girl Cooks said...

Hi CyberSis -- Thanks -- I really liked it, and am looking forward to using the sausages for other things, too. I've been collecting and snapping pictures of Costco things -- I've had a number of folks ask about what kind of things I get there...so I will be posting them soon! :-)

unter der laterne said...

Hi GG, funny I made pumpkin soup too, I sautéed 1 onion, added curry, cooked it for 1 minute and added stock like you and 1/2 cup of cream.Served it with a dollop of sour cream and a sprinkle of cinnamon! My husband does not like spicy foods but this he requests quit often.
Before Wheat free and low carb, I only used milk, no stock and seasoned with a few spoons of *better than bouillon*, it was delicious.
So now my husband is leaving again for the mountains and I will try your *spicy version*.
I just read dreadful things about the spices and herbs we buy.
Maybe you should not read it!
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/31/health/12-percent-of-us-spice-imports-contaminated-fda-finds.html?src=me&ref=general

I was disgusted! I grow my own parsley, chives, rosemary, fennel and thyme and oregano. But what to do about the curries, the turmeric and the chili spices?

I like those chicken sausages that you used!
By the way our tri tip roast costs $7.49 a lb. here in the San Francisco area. Could not bring myself to put that in the crock pot. I roasted it at 450 F for 25 min. it was perfectly cooked! I used a Santa Maria rub( home concoction)!
It is very expensive to live here!
It breaks my heart to watch people shop, many just look at the prices and move on!
Well enough of all this *cheeriness*!
Bis bald! Barbara.

Gourmet Girl Cooks said...

Hi Barbara! Your version of pumpkin soup sounds delicious, too! I would have preferred sauteing onions, too, instead of onion powder, but my husband is so anti-onion that I feared he would use that as an excuse not to eat it...LOL. They have to almost be unidentifiable (cooked to death) if I used them in things -- sometimes I sneak them in and get away with it (LOL...can you tell he doesn't read my comments)? But in a soup this basic and simple without a lot of ingredients, he would notice them immediately. I just finished my leftover bowl of soup for lunch with another lightly toasted biscuit -- it was even better today than last night! Wow..that is interesting that your tri-tips there are more than ours here at Costco -- the other follower I believe said they were $9.99 per pound in her grocery store. Well...if San Francisco wasn't so expensive to live, I would like to live there, too -- I really like it. But you are right, it is sad because I know not everyone can afford to pay those kind of prices in the grocery stores. Hope you are doing well -- we are supposed to get to 75 today! :-)

Gourmet Girl Cooks said...

Hi Barbara -- I just came back and read the link you sent on spices (I didn't have time to read it today at lunch time) -- you are right, it is pretty disgusting what has been allowed to be imported here with the contamination. You are lucky to grow so many of your own spices. Basil is usually what I grow and it didn't too very well this summer with so much rain. :-)