Pumpkin Stew

My husband scored us some free pumpkins a few days ago. I have baked and made pumpkin puree out of two of them. I got a friend to help me cube and peel the third, and most of it is in the freezer. But 5 cups of it went into making Talitha's Vegan Pumpkin Stew today. Sooo good. I had to make my own garam masala because I had most of the ingredients but no time to get to a grocery store. That made my house smell oh-so-yummy.

What I did different: I just boiled the pumpkin / broth mix for about 90 minutes before pureeing because I didn't have the time for a slow 4-hour simmer. Then I threw it all in a crock pot with the pre-soaked beans for 8 hours. It wound up being a little spicier than we normally do (and we like spice!) but maybe that was because it was homemade garam masala. And it was a bit too thick for my tastes, so next time I will probably try 5 cups of broth instead of 3. But trust me, there WILL be a next time. Very tasty stuff. I am excited about my leftovers... I didn't think to garnish it with kefir or anything for dinner, but I plan to add some homemade kefir to it for my leftovers.