Recipes...Pumpkin Pie Soup and White Scallop Squash and Crab Casserole

Not only do I have too many tomatoes on my kitchen table, I also have a couple of pumpkins and some squash calling my name. The eggplant will just have to wait...

Today, I decided that I needed to address the pumpkins and squash.

I had a couple of pumpkins and decided to roast them. I cut open the pumpkins, scooped out the seeds and roasted the pumpkins on a jelly roll pan until tender. I scooped out the flesh and put it in my Blendec...my most used kitchen appliance.

I decided to make Pumpkin Pie Soup. I figured that there was a recipe out there somewhere. I did a search, but found recipes that involved adding chicken broth. Normally, I love chicken broth. I have a freezer full of homemade broth, but it did not seem right to add it to pumpkin pie (soup). I did find a recipe for Pumpkin Almond soup that used almond milk. That's what I was going for. I could work with that.

After I pureed my pumpkins, I put the puree into a  pan. I make my own almond milk for smoothies and things, so I made a batch of almond milk. I added about two cups to my soup along with a little brown sugar, some Pumpkin Pie spice and 3 T. of Southern Okie Gourmet Pumpkin Spread.

Southern Okie had a booth across from our booth at the OK State Fair last year. We bought several jars of her apple and pumpkin spreads. She has since added peach and pear spreads to her store. You can spread it on toast or use it to enhance your recipes.

The next new recipe for the day involved my white scallop squash.  I had some white scallop squash in the fridge that i wanted to use.  I knew that I wanted some kind of squash and crab casserole. I knew that I wanted it to have cream cheese and sour cream, sauteed onions and celery. I sauteed my onions and celery and added my sliced squash. I was going to hollow them out and stuff them with crab, but this seemed easier. 

I sliced them into wedges along the scallop. Cooked a little until softer. I mixed 2 cans of crab with the sour cream, onions and celery. I would have made the "Holy Trinity" of southern cooking... onions, celery and bell peppers..., but I didn't have any bell peppers. 

I added cream cheese and a bit of shredded cheddar cheese to the crab mix and then added the squash. I mixed lightly and put it into a 9x13 glass baking dish. I would have added a bit of stuffing mix, but didn't have that either. Instead, I did have some Butter Crisp Toasted crackers to crunch on top. I mixed those in a little and baked at 350 for about 30 minutes until the squash was tender, then added a bit more shredded cheddar cheese to the top. 

The squash could have cooked just a bit longer, but the casserole turned out really good if I do say so myself. My husband had two helpings. That's high praise indeed.