Jack 'o 'Lantern Soup with Cornbread Croutons

This creamy, pureed soup is made with "pie" pumpkin, parsnip, apple & potato, cooked in a crock pot with broth, beer, lemonade, ginger, & lemon-pepper.

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Ingredients:

• 1 small sweet baking pumpkin (2-2 1/2 pounds)
• 1 parsnip
• 1 apple
• 1 large or 2 medium golden potatoes (Yukon Gold)
• 1 small sweet onion (Walla Walla)
• 4-6 whole cloves garlic
• 1 tsp minced fresh ginger root
• 1 14 oz can chicken broth
• 1/2 cup dark sweet beer (porter)
• 1/2 cup lemonade
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp lemon-pepper seasoning
• 1 tsp dried parsley
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• Cornbread Croutons:
• 1 8 1/2 oz pkg. cornbread muffin mix
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup milk
• 2 Tbsp melted butter (or butter-flavored spray)
• 1 tsp garlic pepper
• 1 tsp dried parsley

Method

Hollow out pumpkin, peel, and chop flesh into 1- to 2-inch pieces. Peel and slice parsnip, apple, potato and onion. Add all to crockpot along with garlic and ginger. Pour in broth, beer, and lemonade. Cook on high setting for 3- to 3 1/2-hours (or on Low setting for 6 to 7 hours) until tender. Meanwhile make croutons. Prepare cornbread muffin batter according to package instructions, baking in 5x9-inch loaf pan lightly oiled with cooking spray. Bake in a preheated 350 degrees oven about 20 minutes or until center tests done with a toothpick. Remove from oven and allow to cool. When completely cold, chop into coarse 1/2-inch cubes. Lightly coat a cookie sheet with edges or a large shallow cake pan with cooking spray. Place cornbread cubes on the pan. Drizzle with melted butter or spray with butter spray. Toss to coat. Sprinkle with seasonings and toss again. Place in preheated 300 degrees oven. Allow to toast for 10 minutes. Stir and toast for another 10 minutes or turn oven off and allow croutons to cool slowly. Vegetables should be tender and mashable. (At this point soup may be cooled and refrigerated for completion and reheating the following day). Pour into food processor (or large mixing bowl) and allow mixture to cool briefly. Add cream and seasonings. Process until smooth (or beat with electric mixer). Rewarm and serve with cornbread croutons.

Notes:

Number of servings: 6

Submitted By: LucyGF
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