One way of increasing the amount of fruit that you eat is to use some in your cooking and with apples so reasonably priced here is a great way to add a little spice, flavor and variation to your diet. Remember that; nutritional experts recommend the daily consumption of 5 servings of fruit and vegetables is most advisable for a truly well rounded and balanced diet.

Ingredients

• 1½ Kg (about 3¼ Pound) of Butternut Pumpkin
• 2 Granny Smith Apples
• 1 Medium Large Onion
• 4 Cups of Vegetable Broth
• ¼ Cup of Thin Cream (to serve)
• 2 Tablespoons of Toasted Flaked Almonds (to serve)
• 2 Tablespoons of Olive Oil
• 1 Pinch of Ground Ginger
• 1 Pinch of Ground Cinnamon

Method

1. Peel and slice the onion and then quarter the slices. Break the quarter slices up prior to cooking
2. Peel, deseed and chop pumpkin Retain the pumpkin seeds for other recipes. Simply place the fresh pumpkin seeds on a dish to dry. They can be roasted at a later date.
3. Peel core and chop the apples
4. Heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat.
5. Once oil is up to temperature add the chopped broken apart onions to the saucepan and cook until they become soft and lightly golden (approximately 5 minutes).
6. Now add in the pumpkin, apples and stock stir quickly then stir in a pinch of ground ginger and a pinch of ground cinnamon. Bring mixture to a boil and then reduce heat slightly. Cook soup, uncovered, until the pumpkin becomes very soft (usually takes about 25 minutes depending upon your cooking appliance).
7. Allow to cool slightly then process with a hand blender or in batches using your food processor until soup becomes smooth. Then return soup to saucepan and reheat soup. Adjust heat to keep the soup simmering rather than boiling until ready to serve.

Serving

• Serve this spicy apple pumpkin soup hot with a little thin cream drizzled over the top and a sprinkling of lightly toasted flaked almonds.
• Croutons or toast are a wonderful compliment to this soup giving it more body resulting in a very nutritious light and filling wholesome quick meal or work lunch.

Variations

For variety try substituting some chicken stock for some or all of the vegetable broth.

For those who like a little heat; simply add a couple of splashes of Tabasco sauce or a little chili pepper either during the initial cooking phase or during the reheat phase. You can even divide the apple pumpkin soup into two batches for the final reheat cooking phase. One batch can be hot and spicy and the other for those less inclined to hot food. Bell peppers also make a great addition to the apple pumpkin soup.

Time

All up this recipe will take around 20 minutes preparation and 30 minutes or so of cooking time.

Yield

These portions will yield 6 adult sized servings