Cream of Pumpkin Soup

Today a friend and I got together for lunch after not seeing one another for several months. We had a wonderful time of visiting over a simple meal of soup, muffins, fruit and a cup of chai. This simple recipe for Cream of Pumpkin Soup has been adapted from several recipes that I have made over the years, none of them really very pleasing and always missing something. The soup is creamy and tastes mildly like pumpkin- pie-in-a-bowl. Blessings...

Recipe:

2 14-oz. cans 99% fat-free chicken broth
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 tbsp. butter
2-1/4 cups canned pure pumpkin
1-1/2 cups chopped, peeled sweet apple such as Gala or Golden Delicious
1 tbsp. dark brown sugar, packed
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. ground allspice
1/8 tsp. ground cinnamon
dash ground white pepper
3/4 cup half-and-half

1. In a 3 qt. saucepan, saute' onion in the butter until soft, but not brown.
2. Add the chopped apple and 1 can of broth; bring to a boil. Lower heat, cover and simmer until apple is tender, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat.
3. Puree mixture in blender in 2 batches and return to saucepan.
4. Add remaining ingredients and whisk until smooth.
5. Heat over medium-low heat until heated through, stirring occasionally.

Yield: 7 cups
130 calories per cup
4 gms. fiber