Butternut Squash Soup

Name: Butternut Squash Soup
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 35 min
Total time: 45 min
Ingredients: 1 Butternut Squash; 1 Large Onion; 4 Cloves of Garlic; ½ TSP Oil; 4 Cups of Water; 1 TSP Grated Ginger; ½ TSP Ground Sage; 1 TSP Dried Rosemary; ½ TSP Paprika; Salt to taste

Stepping into the world of squashes is new and exciting for me. I love the idea of squashes in the fall and what screams fall more than butternut squash soup? Easy, simple, and quick. What more can I ask for?

And the soup adventure continues. Since I began bringing soup for lunch, my world has opened up. NSSSO (You remember him? The Not So Significant Significant Other), has a soup aversion. I’ve never met anyone who disliked soup mor than him. To be fair, my brother also doesn’t like soup, but at least he’ll eat it anyway. Nope, the NSSSO won’t touch any type of soup. This makes me, the extreme soup lover, very sad.

In our household of two, it is nearly impossible for me to have soup. Not only because of NSSSO’s aversion to it, but I can’t imagine making soup for just one serving. So here we are, at a crossroads, what to do. Then, lightbulb moment, Meal prep. If I make a vat of soup, something heavy enough to take me through the rest of my day, then I can have all the soup I want. Yes! Solution!

This new meal planning adventure brought me an excuse to find new soups to try and enjoy. Or maybe, make up some of my own recipes haha. This butternut squash soup was a lot of trial and error. I think at some point I might have started pouring maple syrup in it and I was confused by my own actions. But I think I had unbalanced the herbs and spices and that’s why it was bitter.

Don’t forget to peel your butternut squash. The option to buy precut is always available, but I’ve never tried it personally. Peeling butternut squash is a pain in the butt, I will be the first to admit that. But what I usually do is I gut it in half widthwise, then half the two pieces lengthwise.

After peeling the squash, put it aside for now. Now, take apart a large onion. After cutting it into pieces, set aside. Take this time to crush your garlic.

Take out the pot you’re going to use and heat oil over medium heat. Add onions and cook until fragrant.

Once fragrant, add in garlic and cook for two minutes.

Now add your cut up squash and water and bring to boil. Once you’ve reached a rolling boil, turn the heat down and let it summer until the butternut squash is soft.

This is a good time to prepare your herbs and spices. Grate your ginger, and find your ground sage, dried rosemary, and paprika. Measure it out and set them aside for later.

Once the squash is soft, add in your herbs, spices and salt and let the soup simmer for 10 minutes more. Again, I’d take this time to adjust the seasoning until you’re happy with it. There’s nothing worse than spending time to make something and not enjoy it.

Once you’re happy with it, turn off your stove and take it off heat to cool for 5-10 minutes. After it’s cooled, we blitz. Regardless of whether you’re using a blender or a handheld immersion blender, always start on low. You’ve cooled the soup down yes, but it’s probably not so cool that you’d be comfortable wearing it. Start on low or else you’ll wear your soup instead of eating it. Now, I stick the handheld immersion blender into the soup and blitz till I’m happy.