Crock Pot Pumpkin Cauliflower Soup

I don't know about you but I cannot believe today is the first day of November.  Only two months left until 2012 - it seems amazing that Thanksgiving and Christmas are just around the corner.  I'm not going to lie, I am SO excited!  I am a total holiday girl and love this time of year.  Bring on the holidays and all of the warm sweaters, fires (except I don't have a fireplace), parties, and homemade cookies that come with them!

Speaking of holidays, last night was a major let down, again, for our trick or treater turn out.  We only got THREE groups of trick or treaters!  We're at the end of our street, so I'm telling myself that parents turn their kids around before getting to our house and that we're not known as the partiers scrooges with no kids who aren't worth paying a Halloween visit. 

Like our pumpkin?  Hee hee.  John carved it.  And Sam was busy looking at the kids across the street who didn't come to our house.  No trick or treaters leaves me with waaaay too much leftover candy, especially when there are were fun sized peanut butter M&M's in there.

Moving on.  In celebration of the holiday season being upon us, and to rejuvenate my neglected blog (thanks to those of you who have repeatedly asked me when I'm going to start blogging more often), I've decided to bring back a little challenge by blogging every day in November.  A few ground rules before you alert the media.  I'm going to blog every week day...our weekends in November are packed and trying to blog would be pointless.  You'd see lots of wedding cake and booze, and that's about it.  I also can't promise you'll get an original, perfect recipe every day, but that's not real life anyway, is it?  Seriously, who has time?   Regardless...I look forward to seeing you every day of November and am very excited to share my first recipe with you!

I love making soup in the fall, especially on Sundays.  It's the one day that I have time to fully enjoy the process, take in the smells all afternoon, and then we have leftovers for lunches that week.  Last week I stumbled upon this recipe on Yes I Want Cake and immediately added it to my to-cook list.  It couldn't be easier and is full of fall flavors.  The cauliflower-pumpkin combination makes the soup surprisingly hearty; John and I were both really full after eating a big bowl of this for dinner.  You could always make this on the stovetop if you're pinched for time, but I enjoyed throwing everything in the crockpot and letting it cook slowly.

Crock Pot Pumpkin Cauliflower Soup

Recipe Source: Yes I Want Cake

Serves 4

Ingredients:

1 can pumpkin puree

4 cups chicken broth (or veggie broth)

1 head cauliflower, chopped

1/2 tablespoon allspice

1/4 tablespoon nutmeg

1/2 tablespoon ginger

1 tablespoon salt 

1 cup milk (I used 1/2 cup milk and 1/2 cup half and half)

goat cheese for garnishing

Directions:

Put everything except for the milk in the crockpot.  Cook on high for 4-5 hours.  Puree everything with an emersion blender or a regular food processor until smooth.  Add the milk and serve immediately, topping with goat cheese (I think feta would be really good too!).