The Perfect Pumpkin Soup Recipe for Busy Caregivers

Often with a cancer diagnosis the caregiver gets overlooked. In my cookbook, Eating Well Through Cancer: Easy Recipes & Tips to Guide you Through Treatment and Cancer Prevention, I included a Caregiver chapter to help encourage not only those going through treatment, but also the cancer patient’s support team – the caregiver! This month we think of Halloween, which brings pumpkins to mind.

If cancer treatment has your loved one not feeling well, having a surprise meal will sometimes entice them to eat. A thoughtful snack, casserole, or other healthy dish can bring joy and happiness to a loved one. Eating with a friend or family can also be very helpful. It is no fun to eat alone.

Tips for Caregivers

These are tips for things that a caregiver can do for the cancer fighter they're supporting during the Halloween weekend, and also generally around the hectic holidays.

• Accompany your loved one to the grocery store.
• Take their shopping list and pick up what they need.
• Help them to prepare food.
• Help organize ready-to-eat snacks.
• Organize friends/or relatives to cook for them and their family.
• Bring over meals in disposable containers.
• Take the initiative and run errands for them that they haven't gotten around to yet.
• Share a meal together -- maybe this one.

No tricks! Pumpkins are a nutritional treat and their rich orange color lets you know pumpkins are rich in vitamin A and powerful anti-inflammatory antioxidants. Did you know that one cup of cooked, mashed pumpkin contains more than 200% of the recommended daily intake of vitamin A, which is important for bone health, immune support and vision?! Canned pumpkin also provides 7 grams of weight- maintaining, heart-healthy fiber per cup.

Freezer and diabetic friendly, this pumpkin soup with crawfish from Eating Well Through Cancer is a soothing, satisfying meal that, and is especially festive this time of year. We love our crawfish in Louisiana, but you may omit the crawfish and substitute vegetable broth for a smooth and creamy vegetarian pumpkin soup.

Click the image below to download the recipe.


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Image courtesy of Corey Blaz