It's Fall Y'all!!!

It's fall and it is time for soup! Seeing as how I've recently been inundated with squash, I figured I'd whip up a pot of super tasty butternut squash soup. This is a pretty straightforward recipe that will make you long for a rainy day and cozy socks. It was 88F here today so I cranked up the AC, pretended that it was 55F out, and chowed down to my heart's content! Grab a bowl and get comfy!

Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

1 large butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and chopped
1 large onion, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
3 stalks celery, chopped
6 cloves of garlic, peeled
5 springs of fresh thyme, leave stripped off stalks
olive oil
salt and pepper
3 1/2 cups chicken broth

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Line a large cookie sheet with foil. Spray with cooking spray.
2. Dump all the veggies and thyme on the prepared tray. Drizzle generously with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Toss everything with your hands until evenly coated. Throw it in the oven and roast for 1 hour, or until veggies are fork tender.
3. Let cool. Dump the veggies into your food processor and add 1 cup of the broth. Process until the mixture is smooth as silk.
4. Transfer your veg blend to a large soup pot. Add the remaining 2.5 cups of broth and heat on low until simmering, stirring occasionally. Taste and adjust seasoning. Add a sprinkle of red pepper flakes if you want to add some heat. Serve with buttermilk biscuits and enjoy!

Serves 4-6

A Butternut Squash Dream

The soup...before the immersion blender

Tonight I had the missionaries over for dinner. Actually, let me start at about 8:30pm last night...I was standing on the overlook at the Golden Gate Bridge and my phone rings. It's the missionaries..."I wonder what they need," I thought. They were calling me to remind me that I had signed up to feed them the very next day! OH DANG! What in the world was I going to feed them? I scoured my kitchen and came up with a frozen ham bone, some frozen cubed butternut squash, onion, celery, carrots, a bunch of apples and some salad fixings. I had a plan. I'd make some soup, a salad, biscuits and an apple crisp.

The soup was going to be a hodge podge of vegetables and flavors that I figured would work together. After smelling the deliciousness simmering on the stove all day I tasted the fruits of my labor and almost fainted! My mouth was full of this rich, smoky and deep flavored broth. It was amazing! Here is the recipe for a spectacular, almost vegetarian soup!

Butternut Cauliflower Soup

1 large ham bone

1 large onion, diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 tbsp. vegetable oil

1.5 pounds chopped butternut squash

6 large carrots, peeled and roughly chopped

4 stalks celery, washed and roughly chopped

1/2 pound mushrooms, roughly chopped

1/2 head cabbage, roughly chopped

4 sprigs thyme

4 stalks flat leaf parsley

1 bay leaf

8-10 cups turkey or chicken stock

kitchen twine

1. In a large soup pot heat oil over medium heat. Saute onion and garlic until onion is opaque, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Add squash, carrots, celery, and ham bone. Pour enough stock over to cover the ham bone. Tie up the thyme, parsley and bay leaf with the kitchen twine. Bring it to a boil. Cover and simmer for 5-6 hours.

2. Remove herb bundle, ham bone and any meat bits from the broth. Add the mushrooms and cauliflower. Bring the soup back to a boil and cook until the mushrooms & cauliflower are soft.

3. Using and immersion blender, blend all of the vegetables until the soup is thick and smooth. If the mixture is too thick, feel free to add some warm broth.

4. Serve with a bit of parmesan cheese grated on top and some biscuits hot from the oven. Your family will swoon!

Serves 8