I’ve been going through my old blog posts and found this black bean pumpkin soup recipe. I was like, “Oh, that sounds yummy! I should make that again!” Cause Fall, ya’ll. Even though it’s 85 degrees in Florida still in October.
Then I clicked on the post and read the intro. You wouldn’t know it from the tone of the rest of the post, but this was an extremely difficult time. My daughter was starting 8th grade and her anxiety and C-PTSD were so much bigger than I could help her with – or could find the right professionals to help her with (and believe me, I was turning over every stone). There were times she was unsafe to herself and to me. I had bruises from a really intense meltdown when I wrote this cheery little soup recipe post.
At 13, my sweet girl was struggling to process the trauma that occurred before we adopted her from foster care at age 9 – and the trauma that occurred because of foster care and adoption. She couldn’t function in the school settings we tried, and she felt tremendous shame about that. I felt tremendous shame for not being able to help my daughter. Other people didn’t understand why I didn’t just “make her” go to school. Her father (who I was still married to at the time) was zero help and usually made things more difficult.
It was hard.
And there were lots of other hard times after that.
But we got through them.
And we’ll get through the ones still to come.
If you’re going through a hard time, make yourself some easy, yummy soup like this one and know that even the most difficult seasons of life almost always pass eventually.
Original pumpkin soup recipe from September 23, 2014
Back-to-school time has been accomplished. (Three times for our household. My daughter did a day at public school, two days at a private school and then we decided to move to homeschooling. Yup, it’s been a stressful month.) Now we can relax into fall.
That means simmering big pots of soup on the stove for me, even though it’s still 90 degrees outside in Florida.
I adapted this black bean pumpkin soup from a recipe a friend posted on Facebook recently. It doesn’t look beautiful, but it tastes amazing.
In fact, my daughter’s best friend said she’d skip eating for an entire week if I’d make another batch just for her. She wanted to have lots of room to fill up on it.
It’s super easy to make. It’s basically just open cans, dump in pot, simmer and then blend.
So yummy and comforting!
Black bean pumpkin soup
It’s really more of a starting point than a recipe. It can be adjusted in so many ways.
Ingredients:
- 1 can black beans
- 1 can pumpkin
- 1 box chicken broth
- 1 package turkey kielbasa, chopped
- Garlic powder, onion powder, salt, pepper, chili powder, or any other seasonings you like to taste
Directions:
- Dump the beans (I don’t drain them), pumpkin, broth, and spices in a pot, and simmer until hot.
- Blend with an immersion blender.
- Add chopped kielbasa to the pot and continue simmering until the sausage is hot.
That’s it! Literally as easy as one, two, three. Simple, quick, and delicious.
I love pumpkin and my daughter loves black beans, so this is a great combination for our family. Leave the sausage out for a vegetarian option or add ground beef or shrimp instead.
Let me know if you have a favorite pumpkin recipe! Leave me a note in the comments to tell me what you think if you try this black bean pumpkin soup.
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