In The Kitchen with Laura McKenna: The Best Black Bean Pumpkin Soup

This soup is wonderful!! So good, in fact, that I will need to make it again very soon because I’ve already almost scarfed down the entire pot.

As I was flipping through the recent Eating Well Soups magazine (which is AMAZING), I came across this recipe. Pumpkin in soup? Hmm, I don’t know about that. But I figured I’d give it a try. How weird could it be?

First, I don’t think the pumpkin flavor stands out (so it wasn’t weird at all). Two, the soup is so stinking good with all these flavors that just meld together for a great combination of perfection in a bowl!!

Here is the original recipe and then I’ll tell you the few simple changes I made (more out of necessity than improvement)…

THE CHANGES I MADE:
*Swap the poblano for a green pepper. I didn’t grow any poblano peppers this year (despite them being one of my favorite peppers) and two stores were out of them when I was shopping. I wasn’t about to go looking in a third when I had plenty of green peppers already at home.

*Forgo the fresh cilantro sprinkled as a garnish and instead sprinkle dried cilantro into the soup while it’s cooking. This swap was only because I forgot to plant cilantro this year in my garden and I forgot to add fresh cilantro to my shopping list.

*Despite wanting to reduce as much sodium in my diet as possible (so my dumb knee doesn’t flair up again), I used the regular versions I had on hand of the canned black beans, veggie stock, salted pepitas, and fire-roasted diced tomatoes. Next time I need to restock the pantry, I’ll grab low-sodium versions of all those instead. Because all my versions had salt, I omitted the 1/2 tsp it called for in the recipe.

*Also, I don’t ever use the amount of garlic a recipe actually calls for. I measure garlic with my heart. And my heart called for the entire head of garlic because you can never have enough garlic in soups and in life! I peeled the entire head and finely chopped it.

*The can of coconut milk I had on hand was not light, either. It was just regular strength.

Everything else was prepared accordingly but I never think recipes tell you to cook things long enough in the directions so I am sure I simmered and boiled for longer than it says.

The great part about soup is that it is always forgiving and I am just a throw-things-in kinda soup maker. So jazz this recipe up or down however you like and enjoy!!

The Best Black Bean Pumpkin Soup (on the right) and a Spring Mix, Avocado, Stone Ground Mustard filled Sun Dried Tomato wrap (left) alongside some fruit for dessert. It was yummy!

Want to send a recipe or message to Laura? Email anytime, she’d love to hear from you: Laura.McKenna@civicmedia.us
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