All I want this week is a pot of stew

It's all about stew and soup this week at our house, with seaweed soup early in the week followed by red lentil and vegetable stew that we took to friends for a shared dinner Wednesday, then spinach and lentil soup the next day, and finally, Friday night's cold-weather vegetable stew with spicy sausage. Since I have a head cold that started really bothering me on Thursday, I'm glad there are lots of soupy leftovers today.

Friday night special: Cold-weather vegetable stew with spicy sausage
serves 4 to 6

2 Tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 lb hot Italian turkey sausage (bulk sausage, not in casings)
2 celery ribs, sliced
3 carrots, sliced
2 parsnips, sliced
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 lb white mushrooms, halved
1 tsp Penzey's Spices Adobo seasoning (www.penzeys.com) or 1/4 tsp each of Mexican oregano, fresh ground pepper, cumin and cayenne pepper
3 to 4 cups chicken stock (more if you like it more soupy, less if you like thick stew)
flesh of 1 roasted pie pumpkin (see note)
salt to taste

Saute onion in a large soup pot in olive oil until translucent, then add sausage and break up into small pieces while it browns. When sausage is almost done, add celery, carrots, parsnips and garlic and stir occasionally until vegetables are starting to cook. Add mushrooms and keep stirring and cooking until some liquid appears at the bottom of the pot. Pour in stock and seasonings. When stock comes to a boil, turn down to a simmer and cook the vegetables about 10 minutes. Add in the pumpkin flesh, bring to a boil and simmer again for 20 minutes. Add salt if you wish and served piping hot.

Note: to roast a pie pumpkin, place the entire pumpkin on a baking pan in a 375 degree oven and bake one hour. Cut pumpkin in half, scoop out seeds and discard, then scoop out the cooked flesh.

Beware, this stew is spicy, and the cayenne pepper will need to be skipped if you can't handle a lot of spice. You may even have to mix mild and spicy sausages, because the sausage itself has a good spice kick. I like to eat extra spicy foods when I have a head cold because they encourage my nose to run.