Pumpkin soup with white beans and bacon

This pumpkin soup is so delicious. The sweetness of the pumpkin is perfectly balanced with the savoury flavoured of the crispy bacon and creamy white beans. The hubby-to-be and the one-year-old-terror both ate it all up and asked for seconds. Thumbs up all 'round for this great soup!

YIELD - Serves 4

PREP - 15 mins

COOK - 5 mins

INGREDIENTS
1.5kg butternut pumpkin, seeded and chopped

2 tbs olive oil

salt and pepper, to season

2 rashers rindless bacon, chopped

1 x 420g can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed

1 clove garlic, crushed

1 onion, chopped

2 celery stalks, chopped

2 stalks rosemary, leaves removed

4 cups water

1 ½ cups chicken stock

crusty bread, to serve

METHOD

1. Preheat oven to 180°c fan forced. Line a large oven tray with foil.
2. In a bowl, toss pumpkin with half the oil. Season to taste. Arrange pumpkin on prepared tray and bake for 20-25mins, until just tender.
3. Meanwhile, heat a large chef’s pan* on high. Fry bacon for 1-2 mins, until starting to brown. Add beans and garlic and fry for a further 1-2 mins, until bacon is crispy. Remove from pan and set aside.
4. Heat remaining oil in chef’s pan on high heat. Sauté onion, celery and rosemary for 3-4 mins, until onion is tender.
5. Add pumpkin, water and stock. Bring to the boil, reduce heat to low and simmer, covered, for 15-20 mins, until vegetables are very tender.
6. Remove from heat and puree with a hand blender** until smooth. Season to taste.
7. Divide mixture into four soup bowls, top with bacon and bean mixture and serve with crusty bread.

NOTES

*          If you do not have a chef’s pan use a large, deep saucepan.

**        A food processor can be used instead of a hand blender – but be warned, this is a much messier option!

TIPS FOR PREPARATION AND LEFTOVERS

• Pumpkin soup freezes and reheats fantastically, so in an effort to make midweek meals quicker complete steps 1-2 and 4-6 of this recipe as directed. Divide the soup amongst four freezer-proof containers, refrigerate until completely cool, then freeze until needed. When ready to serve the meal, complete step 3 as directed, reheat the soup in the microwave and serve topped with the crispy bacon and bean mixture alongside crusty bread.
• An alternative is to complete all of steps 1-6 then freeze using the same method. Once you are ready to serve the meal, simply reheat the soup in the microwave and serve with crusty bread. This alternative still tastes just as awesome, the only difference is the bacon won’t be as crispy.

ORIGIN

This dish is based on a recipe I got from a cookbook called Meals Under $10, with a few tweaks here and there by yours truly. The pre-preparation tips are based on my own experiences.

A Perfect Proposal

Otherwise entitled 'The Biggest Month of My Life'.

My story starts a few months ago when my Dad's lovely girlfriend offered us the use of her timeshare at The Moorings Resort in Tomakin. We checked out the joint online and decided it looked pretty darn good.

Mr Mitch, Master Ryan and I enjoyed six fabulous nights enjoying some much needed R and R before bub number two comes along and stirs things up forever! Mr Mitch's Mum, Margi, came along too to help our with Ry, something I will be eternally grateful for.

While in the area we decided to head to the weekend markets in Moruya and were pleasantly surprised to find they had their annual Baby and Toddler markets on. This meant a bunch of free stuff for me and free face painting for Master Ryan. Isn't he the scariest monster you've ever seen???

Then on the Monday (after school holidays had ended and all the other terrors had returned home) we visited Mogo Zoo where Mr Mitch and Master Ryan pretended to be lion cubs on a beach (ahhh, not sure what this is about, but thought it was a cute photo...).

While at the zoo I decided I want a snow leopard. If you would like to contribute some funds so I can buy myself one, let me know and I'll send you my PayPal details. Aren't they beautiful?

Master Ryan had a great time feeding the deer. Mr Mitch was so impressed with the experience that he bought himself an extra bag of deer food and refused to share it with anyone else.

Being 8.5 months pregnant, I was pretty exhausted after our zoo experience, so we spent all day on Monday just chilling at the resort. I'd love to say the below pic is what Mr Mitch and I usually look like, but alas, our skin is no where near that smooth and the photo is a result of me playing with various iPhone apps. A girl can dream though....

This is me with 18 days to go until the bub comes. You can tell by the fuzzed out face that I am uber uncomfortable with the way I look at the moment. 

On Monday night, Mr Mitch and I went out to dinner while Margi looked after Master Ryan. Mitch took me to On The Pier restaurant in Batemans Bay and I could not have been more impressed. The service was wonderful, the view was lovely and the food was spectacular! I only wish I had of put some more effort into my appearance (I mean seriously, look at my hair and outfit, what was I thinking???)

After an absolutely amazing dinner I was flat out exhausted. Mr Mitch insisted on driving the long way home while I desperately tried not to fall asleep in the car. After a while I realised that we were on a dirt  road and, assuming I was being taken to a look-out of some kind (Mr Mitch loves lookouts), I immediately started complaining and pleading to go home. Gentleman that he is, he put up with my complaining with grace but just kept on driving til we arrived at the most fantastically romantic place on the planet, The Bower. The place is just stunning. Super secluded retreat with a big king-sized bed, log fire place, double spa, food, wine, everything a couple looking to spend some quality time together could ever want!

We had a spa bath, which both relaxed me and perked me up a little, and as I wandered through the candle-lit lounge room into the bedroom to lie down and watch a movie, there was my perfect boyfriend down on one knee!!!

Isn't the ring spectacular?? It is not something I would've ever considered for myself but as soon as I saw it I just KNEW that is was the one that I was meant to have and I would love it forever. I'm such a happy girl right now, I didn't even realise just how much I wanted to be engaged until he popped the question.

I'd love to put some super cute photos from an engagement photo shoot here, but alas, with a bub coming in less than a week I am feeling wayyyy too fat and uncomfortable for anything like that and getting Mr Mitch in photos is damn near impossible.

After our exciting week down the coast, we have come home and I'm now enjoying the beginning of my maternity leave relaxing at home before our little daughter arrives. So also this month I've got Mr Mitch's birthday (on a side note I'm getting a bit worried because the presents I ordered for him still haven't arrived...), Mother's Day (yes I know I'm going to be spoiled myself, but I've still got my Mum and Margi to worry about!) and our little daughter is due on Friday. Big, BIG month!

Perhaps I'm not the world's worst blogger?

I thought I was a terrible blogger as I only blog sporadically and the content generally only interests me. However, as my blogging platform is Blogger, when I view my blog I get the little Blogger title bar which includes a
'Next Blog >>' button. Out of interest I clicked this button a dozen or so times quickly checking out each blog. Out of the twenty blogs I ended up checking out, only six of them had not posted at all this year (in fact a lot of them hadn't posted in the last 18 months!), so based on this study I am better than 70% of the bloggers out there which I suppose is a little bit of inspiration to keep on going.

Anyhoo, here's a pic of Ryan Gosling to keep you going...

Things that feel like home - Week 12 of 52 Lists

Thanks to Garmisch over at SubtleTransition, I've discovered 52 Lists by Moorea Seal and love, lurve, LURRRRRVE the idea.
Basically Moorea posts a prompt every week and you write a list based on the prompt and (hopefully) post it your blog.

I'm going to jump in on week 12 where the prompt is "list the things that feel like home".

Here goes:

1. My fantastic defacto, Mitch. As long as he is by my side I feel safe and like it's all going to be ok;
2. My beyond gorgeous son, Ryan. He is, without any shade of doubt, the most perfect human being ever created. I am the luckiest Mum on the planet;
3. My Mum. The most supportive and generous lady in the world, bar none;
4. White hot chocolate. I make it for my boys and it makes them soooo happy;
5. Chicken schitzel and potato bake. My Mum's is (obviously) the best ever;
6. Ugg boots and fluffy dressing gowns. I think deep down I am semi-bogan;
7. McDonald's big breakfasts. When we were kids my Dad used to take us every Sunday;
8. Group messages with my brother and sister;
9. Overly professional-sounding personal emails from my Dad; and
10. Inside jokes.

The NFL: A Bad Lip Reading

This is dead-set the funniest thing I have ever seen in my entire life. I've watched it about fifty times and every single time I literally cry with laughter.

If you just watched the show and didn't laugh, well I'm not sure we would get along...

If you want to see more videos like this, the guys who made it upload youtube videos under the name BadLipReading, if you have time you should DEFINITELY check it out.