" Cream " Of Pumpkin Or Squash Soup (vegan)

Total Time: 30 mins Cook Time: 30 mins

Ingredients

• Servings: 4
• 1 (14 -16 ounce) can pumpkin puree (using roasted squash really enhances the flavor) or 1 (14 -16 ounce) can freshly roasted butternut squash (using roasted squash really enhances the flavor)
• 3 cups homemade vegetable broth
• 1/2 cup small red potato, diced
• 1/2 cup green bell pepper, seeded, membrane removed, diced (okay to use another color)
• 1/4 cup celery, diced
• 1/4 cup red onion, peeled and diced (my addition)
• 3 tablespoons smooth cashew butter or 3 tablespoons pumpkin seed butter
• 1 firm but ripe banana, sliced into small pieces
• 1 small apple, peeled, seeded and diced
• salt
• ground red pepper, to taste (paprika or cayenne)
• fresh cilantro leaves
• roasted pumpkin seeds
• pumpkin seed pesto sauce (read *note)

Recipe

• 1 place all ingredients except for banana, apple and paprika, in a stock pot. cover, cook on low-medium heat until vegetables are soft, about 20 minutes.
• 2 add banana, apple and paprika last 5 minutes of cooking. heat through. once heated, puree soup if desired.
• 3 (if using fresh squash, you probably will have to puree the soup using an immersion blender to make the consistency smoother.).
• 4 just before serving, season soup with salt to taste.
• 5 garnish with cilantro leaves and pumpkin seeds. or, if you wish, garnish each serving with a swirl of pesto made with pumpkin seeds. note: use any standard pesto recipe, substituting pumpkin seeds. *note: [[however, most pesto recipes do contain cheese-omit the cheese if you wish.]].