Thai-style Pumpkin Soup with Shrimp

In my family it's a tradition to have pumpkin soup on New Year's in honor of Haitian Independence Day. Due to my limited access to certain ingredients over the years I've played around with my recipe quite a bit. What follows is my favorite experiment so far (a slight adaptation of this recipe), and possibly my recipe from here onwards despite its distance from more traditional Haitian recipes. I hope you like it as much as I do!

Easy Pumpkin Pie

This is a quick and easy pumpkin pie recipe based on this recipe. (I added a couple of things based on my own preferences!) This does not include directions for the pie crust - I've got a family recipe I'm not allowed to share for that! (And to be entirely honest, when I'm in North America I go the easy route and just buy pre-made crusts! Quick 'n easy!)

Pumpkin Chickpea Stew

Can you guess what I have a lot of in my pantry right now? If you guessed chickpeas, you would be correct! What follows was loosely based on this recipe, but I took some liberties with the ingredients and preparation, as always. (I mean, come now, TWO cloves of garlic? Just 'cause you're white doesn't mean you have to embrace bland!)

New Year's Pumpkin Soup

This recipe came together rather by accident - a mix of homesickness for fall in North America, a pumpkin sighting at my local grocery store, the Haitian tradition in my family of having some sort of pumpkin soup (soup joumou) on New Year's, and the delightful discovery of smoked tofu for sale at a 'meat' shop (protein shop?) near work. You may not have smoked tofu available where you live, and if that's the case I am profoundly sorry. It seriously rocks my world! Depending on what I've had in the house I've substituted potato for the tofu and it makes an equally lovely soup, so use what you've got available!

Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars

This is a variation on a theme - Sophia's cheesecake - that grew out of my extreme disappointment in a pumpkin dessert recipe I tried out a bit ago. (Trust me, this is way better than that was - I'm still surprised anyone I served them to ate them!) I've since done two or three experimental batches, and I think this is the final version of this recipe. If it's not, however, I'll be sure to post any future adjustments I make!

Pumpkin Masala Pie

When I originally planned my menu for this year's Canadian Thanksgiving dinner I had thought to just make straight up pumpkin pie for dessert. As I was making the first pie, however, I realized that a lot of the spices for the regular pie were the same as what's in the tea masala I brought with me from eastern Africa when I moved to the States after high school. That led to my second pie, the pumpkin masala one! I may be modifying the recipe later depending on how the pie actually tastes tomorrow night, but my sampling of the batter makes me think that this will be a keeper! (And perhaps something to pull out in the future for St. Thomas' main feast day since it falls in mid-October!)