Recipes

After a couple of reminders this week I realized that I never put the goulash recipe up. I cannot find the recipe at this moment, keep in mind that we just received all of our household stuff last week. I have been to another German cooking class though in the meantime, so I am going to post that recipe now and the goulash one as soon as I find it.
I also wanted to clarify for a couple of people, Nathan is not deployed yet, he is only away in eastern Germany for training. I am not really sure where he is, all I know is he is in the eastern part. We are on the west side near the Luxembourg and France borders. I have done well so far while he has been gone in staying busy between Scouts, FRG meetings, and many meals with all of the wonderful women that I have met here. I am starting to make some friends that I honestly feel I can rely on to help me through being alone in a foreign country while Nathan is deployed. I have joined the community spouse club. Each month in the club we have either a luncheon or a dinner and about one to two trips a month. Friday night was this month's dinner, its theme was Arabian nights. We had an amazing meal of Eastern Mediterranean recipes. We also had a belly dancer, the woman who performed also teaches classes at the gym on post, I might just have to try it out. Another group I have joined is called AWOLs, adults without little ones. We meet once a month for a potluck, talk about places to visit and travel tips. We are going to start planning group trips soon.

So my recipe for today is for Kurbis Suppe (Pumpkin Soup)
Ingredients:
1 Hokaido pumpkin, I am not sure if you can find the exact pumpkin or not in the states, it is not a huge pumpkin and you use everything except the seeds including the skin in the recipe.
2 medium onions
6-8 ounces smoked ham cubes
2/3 C heavy cream, you can decrease or increase this depending on the size of your pumpkin and the consistency of your soup
1 Tbsp. vegetable broth powder
Olive oil
Pepper, salt, water
Pumpkin seed oil for decoration
A good bread, I like using crusty french bread

Preparation:
1. Cut the pumpkin into quarters, remove the seeds, cut into 1" cubes.
2. Chop the onion.
3. Using a large pot, heat olive oil, add onion, pumpkin, and ham. Brown evenly.
4. When the pumpkin is just starting to brown add cold water mixed with the broth just until it reaches the top of the pumpkin.
5. Simmer for 20-30 min, until pumpkin is soft. Use a handheld blender or mixer and blend the mixture until smooth.
6. Add heavy cream and boil for 1 minute.
7. Decorate with pumpkin seed oil. Serve with bread.

Guten Appetit!