There is one really simple reason why I’m not complaining about the cold weather that’s hit us recently, well technically two reasons.
The first reason that I am not complaining is that complaining doesn’t do any good! I too would have loved to enjoy the fall weather a little longer before the snow hit but let’s be honest, this is Alberta. Chances are the fall-like weather will come around one more time before winter is here to stay.
The second reason I’m not complaining about the weather is that the chill air means it is officially comfort food season, and I love that! Sure, I enjoy a good grilled meal as much as anyone else, but I am also a pretty big fan of homemade soups and stews, casseroles, and oven roasted everything! So, to celebrate the changing seasons I think it is time to share a tasty little soup recipe I found about a month ago. Finding this recipe all started with my quest to see what butternut squash is all about. Or, really you could say it all truly began when we started the 21 Day Fix, over 4 months ago.
When Dylan and I decided to start taking our nutrition and fitness more seriously, with the help of the 21 Day Fix, we had to increase our vegetable intake pretty substantially. The hardest part about eating more vegetables is that it gets pretty boring to eat cup after cup of raw broccoli, carrots and cucumbers. Or salad. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good salad but I needed to incorporate some new vegetables and new recipes into our diet or we would get very bored very quickly.
I mean, that is a lot of veggies and fruit! As healthy as this plan is, boredom would have inevitably lead to frustration, which I’m sure would have lead to us quitting on this lifestyle change. It is a good thing I am so determined (read: stubborn), and that being at home this year has allowed me to devote some serious time to finding new recipes. In my quest for new healthy, yummy foods, I kept seeing different recipes using butternut squash. So I finally caved and bought one. Actually, I bought two.
Now, I’m not really sure why no one let me in on this little secret before, but butternut squash is GOOD! Like, I can eat it cubed and uncooked I love it so much! Maybe that isn’t a secret to you, but it sure was to me. Anyway, with my butternut squash purchased I now had the happy problem of deciding what to do with it. I did what I’m sure everyone else does and scoured the internet for a tasty recipe. I was sure I had saw butternut squash soup recipes previously, so that’s where I began my search. My search terms were probably somewhere along the lines of “21 Day fix butternut squash soup” because I still roughly follow that eating plan, and I love when I find recipes that include a container count. Those of you who have tried 21DF are probably grinning and nodding, the rest of you are probably wondering what the heck I’m talking about. It’s all good, you don’t have to care one bit about the Fix’s eating plan one bit to enjoy this soup! Anyway, the recipe I settled on was from a fun little blog called “Udderly Fit”, and can be found here http://www.udderlyfit.com/21-day-fix-butternut-squash-soup/
This is one of those great recipes that I really did not feel the need to change much, if at all. Any changes to it I’ve made are so minimal that I almost didn’t bother to write it out. In the end I decided it was worth the effort because I hope to make my page a one-stop-shop for all my favourite recipes, and this will definitely be a regular go-to for me.
Looks nice, right? Admittedly I once again did not use my real camera, but this time I tried, I did. Unfortunately, the battery was dead. :p
Anyway, enough of my rambling, here is the recipe!
Butternut Squash Soup
Serves 8 Total prep and cooking time about 45 minutes
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 onion, chopped
- 2-3 carrots, chopped (approximately 2 cups)
- 2-2.5 pounds of peeled, cubed butternut squash (seeds removed, approximately 4 cups)
- 3 cloves minced garlic
- 4 cups of vegetable or chicken broth (“Better than Bouillon” is my favourite)
- 2 cups of water
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp oregano
- 1 tsp rosemary (crushed, if available)
- 1 tsp basil
- 1/2 tsp sea salt (optional)
Instructions
- Saute’ onion, carrots and garlic in olive oil in your soup pot until the carrots begin to soften (DO NOT add the butternut squash until the carrots have cooked for a bit)
- Add your cubed butternut squash, broth, water, and spices.
- Simmer ingredients until the carrots and squash can be poked through with a fork.
- Blend the soup in batches in your food processor, or use an immersion blender, to achieve the desired consistency.
- Serve as is or topped with a dollop of plain yogurt.
***For container counts I counted 1cup of soup as 1 green and 1 tsp.
The original recipe said to use no more than 4 cups of squash, and no more than 2 cups of carrots, which I totally ignored the first time I made this soup. I actually liked the soup a bit better with a little more vegetables in it than it calls for. The second time I made this soup I made the mistake of adding the squash at the same time as the carrots. Bad choice, the squash was done significantly before the carrots, and so the carrots did not blend as smoothly as they did the first time I made it.
Another side note, the original recipe calls for crushed rosemary, which I did not have. I also could not see crushed rosemary in my grocery store, so I am not really sure if this is something you can find in other stores, or if you have to crush it yourself. In any case, rosemary leaves worked fine in terms of taste, but seemed to stay intact on blending.
What is soup without bread or buns right? This homemade five grain bread paired nicely with it. 🙂
Pretty right? Adapting the 5 grain bread recipe in the Company’s Coming Bread cookbook yields one of my favourite breads. I may have to share it another time, what do you think?
What’s your favourite soup recipe, or your favourite use for butternut squash?
Sally says
I got to try it and it was delicious and very Hearty! Breads yummy too Lol!
Kyla says
Thanks Sally!