Roasted Pumpkin Chicken Noodle Soup

2 tbsp butter divided (you can use ghee, coconut oil, olive oil, or avocado oil if you are dairy free)
1 small/medium pie pumpkin halved and seeds scooped out
½ tsp sea salt
¼ tsp pepper
¼ tsp cinnamon
1 medium onion diced
1 large carrot diced
1 large celery stalk diced
2 cloves of garlic minced
½ tsp dried thyme
½ tsp ground sage
2 cups cubed cooked chicken I use leftovers from our weekly roasted chicken
2 quarts bone broth
2 cups dry pasta of choice I use the GF Jovial Rice Spirals
½ cup full fat coconut milk
1 big handful of baby spinach finely chopped
Sea salt/pepper to taste

Pre-heat the oven to 425 degrees.
Place your halved pumpkin flesh side up in a baking dish. Rub 1 tablespoon of butter over the flesh and sprinkle with ½ teaspoon sea salt, ¼ teaspoon pepper, and some cinnamon. Roast the pumpkin at 425 degrees for 50 minutes, until the flesh is fork tender and fragrant. While the pumpkin roasts, you can prepare the rest of the soup.
Melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a large soup pot over medium high heat, and add the onion, carrot, and celery with a pinch of sea salt. Cook the veggies over medium high heat, stirring occasionally until the veggies are soft and fragrant, about 5-7 minutes.
Add the garlic, thyme, and sage to the soup pot, stir to combine, and cook for a minute or two.
Add the cubed chicken and bone broth, and bring to a boil. Add the pasta, and reduce to a simmer to cook the pasta until al dente. While the pasta starts cooking, you can prepare the pumpkin to add to the broth.
Scoop the pumpkin flesh out of the shell and into your food processor or blender. Blend the pumpkin until smooth. Add the pumpkin puree to the soup pot where the pasta is cooking and stir to combine.
When the pasta is cooked to al dente, turn the heat off, add the coconut milk and chopped spinach, stir to combine, and season with salt and pepper to your taste.

If you don’t have leftover chicken, you can brown up chicken breast cubes right in the soup pot before you make the soup. Remove the browned chicken and start the soup from there.
There are multiple ways to cook a whole chicken every week in order to have leftover chicken for weekly meals! If you aren't in to a Sunday dinner roasted chicken, you can cook a whole chicken in your slow cooker, or cook your whole chicken in your Instant Pot!
You can use regular milk or cream in place of the coconut milk if you are not dairy free.
You can use canned pumpkin if you wish – about 1 cup of puree. The roasted flavor from cooking a pumpkin is super worth it in the flavor though just fyi!
Save your pumpkin seeds to roast! I like to soak them in sea salt and water, toss with avocado oil, sea salt, and cinnamon on a sheet tray, and then cook at 325 degrees for about 25 minutes.