Pumpkin Posole

It is now fall; therefore, I will posting a lot about soup. Let me explain: I LOVE SOUP. As soon as there was a chill in the air and I could stand to cook warm things again (begone, smoothies for dinner!), I was on it.

This one is a new experiment. We have some time-tested faves, but more on those later. I once had the pleasure to try some much more authentic posole that a friend made, and have since wanted to try it myself. While hunting for a good-looking recipe, I came across one on the internet that was just too unique to pass up. I made a few substitutions to make it vegetarian-friendly, but the concept did not disappoint. I'm not sure it can really be called a posole, but more likely a-stew-that-includes-hominy-so-there.

Here's the recipe, with my additions and substitutions:

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 14 oz. can of black beans
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 1/2 cup carrot (cut up into ~1/4 inch disks)
• 1 cup sliced celery
• 1/2 chopped red bell pepper
• 1 can of chopped green chiles (by all means, if you have real roasted ones, now is the time to use them!!)
• 1 14 oz. can of pumpkin
• 1 3/4 cups low-salt veggie broth
• 1 14 oz. can hominy
• 1/2 cup plain yogurt
• 2 tablespoons cilantro (the toothpaste tube kind)
• 1 tablespoon freeze-dried parsley
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon oregano (the toothpaste tube kind)
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Directions:

1. Heat oil in large saucepan at medium-high heat.

2. Add onion, cook until crisp-tender (~4 minutes).

3. Add carrot, celery, bell pepper, cook until crisp-tender, another ~4 minutes.

4. Stir in pumpkin, black beans, green chiles, broth, hominy, yogurt, cilantro, parsley, salt, pepper, oregano, cumin, and nutmeg.

5. Reduce heat to low; cook, stirring occasionally, for 10 to 15 minutes or until flavors are blended. (I like to gauge done-ness by the texture of the carrots)