Pumpkin and zucchini soup

I used my slow cooker for the first time this week. I think it’s changed my life in the kitchen.

I made this soup a couple of weeks ago on the stove top and it was kind of a “I have pumpkin in the fridge and the zucchini is about to go off so lets add them to the soup and see what happens soup creation.” Last night I was keen to make soup again and also to try my slow cooker for the first time. I’ve always been a bit scared to try it imagining the food burning to a black ball of coal or burning the house down… who knows what goes on in my head, but I thought I would try it over night instead of during the day while I’m at work. People say it’s fine to do this but I’m still a bit hesitant to leave food cooking with no one in the house. Anyway… back to the soup, here’s how to make it.

You’ll need;

• 1 x onion diced
• 1 quarter pumpkin chopped into blocks (this is a guess, I bought a piece ready cut from Checkers)
• 1 packet of zucchini, chopped into thickish pieces.
• 500ml chicken stock
• a very small sprinkle of chilli flakes
• a dash of cinnamon
• salt and pepper to taste

What to do;

Fry the onion until it’s translucent and then add to slow cooker with all the other ingredients listed above, close the lid and cook on low heat for a few hours. (I put it on at 8:30pm and switched it off at 5:40am the next day and it was well cooked)

I put the pumpkin at the bottom and the zucchini above it. I read something about putting vegetables into a slow cooker in the order of how long it takes to cook somewhere on the internet. I think pumpkin will take longer than zucchini to cook. When I got up in the morning everything was cooked perfectly.

When I got home I fried up some bacon pieces and added it to the soup once I had blended it, as well as some cream.

OM NOM NOM!

Please let me know if you try this, add anything different and how it turns out.

xKx