Spicy Pumpkin Soup with Bacon and Spicy Fried Chickpeas

You guys know how I bake. I just keep throwing random ingredients in, only measuring on rare occasions. With cooking I'm even worse. It takes great effort for me to measure the ingredients in something like this. But I love you guys and I want you to be able to share my joy in this spicy pumpkin soup, so I made the sacrifice.

So yeah, as you can see, this soup was no exception to the "throwing a bunch of random ingredients in and hoping for the best" thing. I loaded it up with a bunch of spices and then piled on some crumbled bacon, feta cheese, and spicy, pan-fried chickpeas. It's pretty much a pumped up version of this pumpkin soup I made a few years ago.

I used a real pumpkin to make this soup. I've been buying pie pumpkins like they're going out of style. Of course, you can use canned pumpkin if you want, you'll probably survive. A real pumpkin is obviously better though. I just stab it a few times with a knife and throw the whole thing in the oven on a baking sheet at like 350ºF for an hour or so until it's soft and then scoop out all the flesh (ew, sorry that sounds so disgusting) and put it in the blender till smooth. You could also try this with mashed sweet potatoes or butternut squash. It would probably be awesome. Enjoy.

• Spicy Pumpkin Soup with Bacon and Spicy Fried Chickpeas
•  
• 1 chopped yellow onion 
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 3/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 3/4 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
• Cayenne pepper to taste
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 3 1/2 cups pumpkin puree*
• 2 cups chicken stock
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
•   
• Feta cheese
• A few slices of bacon
• 
  
• A few tablespoons bacon grease (or butter or oil)
• 15.5 oz. can chickpeas (also called garbanzo beans), drained and patted dry
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon cnili powder
• 1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1/8 teaspoon turmeric 
• 2 teaspoons brown sugar
•  
• In a large pot over medium heat, cook the butter, garlic, and onion a few minutes until softened. Add the smoked paprika, chili powder, turmeric, cayenne pepper, salt, and garlic powder. Add the pumpkin puree and chicken stock continue cooking until heated all the way through (You can let it simmer a while on low heat). Add the cream. If you would like it thinner, add more chicken stock. Serve with feta cheese, crumbled bacon, and spicy fried chickpeas. 
• 
  
• To make the chickpeas, heat the bacon grease, butter, or oil in a large pan over medium heat. Add chickpeas, salt, garlic powder, smoked paprika, turmeric, and  brown sugar. Cook until they begin to brown slightly.

*If using a real pumpkin, just stab it a few times with a knife and throw the whole thing in the oven on a baking sheet at 350ºF for an hour or so until it's tender when you stick a fork in. Then scoop out all the flesh and put it in the blender till smooth. Otherwise use a 29 oz. can of pumpkin.

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