I have decided to join my fellow bloggers who feature a day of the week with a repeating theme. Among the blogs that I read that have an on-going feature are ones about flowers, bunny fixes, anything about Vancouver Island, trips, mind trips and trip remembrances. Other bloggers keep me entertained with (not weekly) but occasional stories about Boston terriers, whether one or two (I so want one!) and wildlife. 
So, as I cast about for what I can use for a weekly feature, I suddenly thought of one of the unique things about the church I attend. Every year, we hold a fundraiser for our local Christian Churches United. We have a soup BISTRO!
We decorate our fellowship hall, we pick four soups and then members & friends of the church make soups and donate other foods such as breads and cookies.
Then we have two seatings (with tickets--that is the fund raiser part) for the community to come, eat soup and listen to wonderful lively music. It is a grand festive occasion. Since we always hold this the first Sunday in December, I think of it as the official start of Advent.
So, I will be featuring a soup a week on Saturdays (until I run out of soups). I plan to feature those from our Bistro, but may throw in some other personal favorites.
First Saturday Soup
Thai Pumpkin Soup--this is one of the all-time favorites.
Makes 12 servings
64 oz. fat-free, low-sodium chicken broth
30 oz. canned (or fresh) pumpkin
24 oz. mango nectar
1/2 cup reduced-fat chunky peanut butter
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
3 T. minced scallions
2 tsp. fresh ginger, peeled and grated
1 tsp. fresh orange rind, grated
1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper
2 garlic cloves, pressed or minced
3 T. chopped fresh cilantro
1) Combine broth, pumpkin and nectar in a large Dutch oven, and bring to a boil. Cover and reduce heat, whisking while adding remaining ingredients,
except for the cilantro.
2) Let simmer over low heat for 10 minutes. Turn off heat and add cilantro.
The mango nectar is available in the Spanish foods section of most grocery stores, and rice wine vinegar is available in the Asian foods section.
ENJOY!
All photos in this post taken by church members for Bistro
6 comments:
I am very excited about your new feature as I make a batch of homemade soup every week. Today's soup is a must try for me...my favourite flavours (PB, mango, pumpkin) plus some hot and sour.
Ruth
Donna, this is a terrific idea. I always try to make a soup on the weekend, and enough of it to reheat during the week for a quick meal (soup is always better the second time around, right?). I'll be watching and printing out your recipes. Bravo!
Great idea!
I made chicken soup with matzo balls for dinner tonight. Yummy!
Is mango syrup easy to find? Don't know that I've ever noticed it in the store - but I'd like to try this recipe!
I am glad there are enthusiastic soup makers out there!
Laura--mango syrup is available in central PA stores in the Spanish foods section.
One of the future soups will be chicken matzoh ball soup!
Just realized that it's mango nectar - not syrup - and was thinking I might be able to find it in the Goya section. Thanks!
I am the official soup maker here. My taste runs more to tomato-based stuff, so I will have to think about this one; but Lois certainly liked the idea of this soup so I may have to try it anyway.
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