Autumn Harvest Cranberry Pumpkin Soup

So tonight I thought I'd try making a cranberry related dinner since I now own 3lbs of the buggers. At the Cranberry Fest I bought a cookbook containing the recipes from this years cook off. Some are marked with tiny ribbon icons that denote first, second, or third place winners.

Honestly it's more of a pamphlet that was quickly put together but $2 for a selection of local winners? How could I go wrong?

Right now is when you need to envision me saying that last line with a slightly crazed look in my eyes.

Tonight I began the recipe for Autumn Harvest Cranberry Pumpkin Soup and then ended up with two left over ingredients that caused me pause. Here is the recipe as it is printed:

1 cup cooked mashed fresh pumpkin or canned pumpkin
1/2 cup chopped fresh cranberries
3 tablespoons butter
1 medium onion finely chopped
2 tablespoons flour
4 cups milk
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
3 tablespoons white wine
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
Dash of salt and black pepper
parsley for garnish

Melt butter in saucepan and saute onion until clear; do not brown. Stir in flour and milk; bring to boil and lower heat to simmer. Cook until thickened, stirring occasionally. Add cream and spices; simmer for 20-20 minutes. Add wine and simmer for 5 minutes. Serve in uncooked, carved out miniature pumpkins that have tops cut off and seeds and strings removed or serve in dishes of choice. Garnish with a fresh parsley leaf.

Can you guess what I was missing? Read it again.

Here's a clue: Pumpkin and cranberries. After getting past adding the cream and spices I stood there and went... hang on here. Looked over at my measured out pumpkin and cranberries and looked at the book again.

So I tossed them in. And added more than just a dash of salt  because one thing I've learned is that people here don't salt like southerns and I'm constantly reaching for the salt shaker.

It was... meh. I ended up adding shrimp to our 2nd round just to add a little depth. Then again maybe because I most likely didn't cook it in the same order it was intended maybe that messed it up? Or maybe the cranberries should have gone in with the onion so they could soften and help thicken the sauce?

It has the right bones of a good recipe but for now I'm lost. Last night I attempted fresh cranberry muffins and they weren't salty enough and the dough was a little too moist. The kids refused to touch them. Well they took one bite and then turned them down.

Right now I have 4 loaves of whole wheat bread with no cranberries added in the oven and my first attempt ever at fresh cranberry sauce cooling on the counter-top. The cranberry sauce is because I found another recipe that sounded interesting but it calls for "cranberry sauce" because... ha ha you silly girl everyone here has their own favorite cranberry sauce recipe! And in all honesty it's crazy easy. Or at least what I just made was.

Fingers crossed it's edible.

So I either need cooking lessons, an adopted local grandmother, or possibly enough sense to stick to what I know.

Anyone for pork chops, biscuits, sweet potato casserole and seasoned green beans?