Baked Pumpkin Soup in a Pumpkin Shell

This creamy and flavorful baked soup is one of my very favorite recipes to cook in Autumn.

Ingredients
 
1 medium sized pumpkin
5 slices of toasted sourdough bread
1.5 cups grated gruyere cheese
16 oz chicken stock
8 oz heavy cream
1/2 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp pepper

Directions

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Using a sharp and sturdy knife, cut out a lid from the pumpkin top and set aside. Scoop out the pumpkin guts and seeds, but leave the walls of the pumpkin thick and intact. Now place the pumpkin in a deep round casserole dish.

Toast the sourdough bread to a golden brown color. Rip the toast into bite-size pieces and place a layer inside the pumpkin. Cover the toast with a layer of the grated gruyere. Repeat the layering until you have used up all the toast and cheese. Sprinkle the mixture with the salt and pepper. Now pour in the heavy cream, followed by the chicken stock. Place the lid back on the pumpkin.

Bake for 1 hour at 350 degrees, then remove the lid from the pumpkin and bake for another 30 minutes or so, until golden brown. Enjoy!

Birthday Cake

Birthday Cake
Originally uploaded by pixelish
Decided to approach this cake from a very low angle. And wanted super selective focus just on that chocolate frosting swirl and the edge of the cake. Quite happy with this unusual look.

Oh, and the cake? Delish!

Southwestern theme today. Here are the chilis, pre-roasting. Cayenne, since you asked.

Breaking my rules about backgrounds here. I typically prefer to photograph on a plain background with no designs. Had to make an exception for this antique pressed tin.

Note to self - it's good to break the rules every once in a while.

Raspberries in boxes

Raspberries in boxes
Originally uploaded by pixelish

This was taken only about a month ago. It was summer then, and now we are clearly heading into fall. Really feeling the seasons change this year in California.

These lovely red raspberries were found at a farmer's market, photographed and immediately gobbled up : )