Butternut Squash Soup

I had a friend ask me today what to do with butternut squash and my first thought was... "what CAN'T you do with it??"  I love butternut squash.  It's incredibly versatile and packed with nutrition.  So I thought, for a newbie, the best way to ease into butternut squash would be butternut squash soup.  It's quick, easy, and even my People-Eating-Tasty-Animals husband loves it for dinner.  I don't have good pictures, like I said, this just came up today and I thought if she wanted the recipe, then all of you would, too!  I'm going to give you my basic recipe.  I generally double this (with 2 squash) so I have leftovers for a few days or I throw it into the freezer for later enjoyment.

Side note:  This fits into pretty much ANY dietary eating plan.  It's gluten free, sugar free, egg free, grain free, and can be dairy free or vegetarian.  Party on.

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1 small yellow onion - diced
2 cloves of garlic - peeled and diced (or pre-diced garlic from a jar which is my choice)
3 Tbs butter
1 butternut squash - cut in quarters, seeds and guts removed
1/2 a box organic chicken stock (or homemade.  Trust me the canned stuff is not nearly as good)
4 oz cream cheese
Seasonings to taste:  I generally use about 1 Tbs chili powder, a couple shakes of seasoned salt, some black pepper, a pinch of red chili flakes and  hint of nutmeg

*You will need a blender or food processor for this!

• Melt butter in a large pot, add diced onion and garlic.  Cook over medium heat, stirring often, until onion is completely soft and translucent but not brown

•  While onions are cooking, nuke your butternut squash in a covered microwave-safe container   until the flesh is fork tender; about 10 minutes.  When flesh is completely tender, remove skins and set flesh aside.

• When onions are completely cooked, add butternut squash chunks, cream cheese and chicken stock.  Stir, because stirring is fun, while the cream cheese melts and the squash loosens up a bit.

• When cream cheese is melted and things are smelling amazing, pour the chunky soup into a blender or food processor and process until smooth.  Pour back into pan and continue cooking.

• Season your soup and let everything simmer together.  Taste often.  Real chefs taste their food to make sure it's delicious.  Add more seasonings as necessary.  Did I mention taste often?  Remember you can always add more seasoning but you can't take them out once they're in.  Season carefully.

And there you have it folks - one of thee cheapest and easiest soups to make.  Serve hot with crusty bread on the side.

Dietary modifications:

• If you can't do dairy, substitute the cream cheese for almond milk and the butter for olive oil or coconut oil
• If you're a veggie, simply substitute vegetable stock for the chicken stock
• If you're gluten free - serve with GF bread!

This is also a fantastic soup to make by the truckload and frozen for later.  I'm all about cooking once and eating twice.  Or three or four times....

Enjoy!
KDH.