Image via WikipediaTonight I created a delicious pot of homemade butternut squash soup, since it's Ash Wednesday and a no-meat-in-meals day for Catholics, which I happen to be. Luckily, I had planned in advance for such a day and had a massive container of peeled, washed, and diced chunks of butternut squash available and at my disposal from which to create my masterpiece - soup.Let's back up a week or so to the last time I made butternut squash soup. I used a slow cooker (one of my all time favorite kitchen inventions - ever) and simmered it the entire day. I then used my immersion blender (second favorite kitchen invention - scratch that, third - fridge must be second.. or should it be first?) to puree the cooked chunks into a gorgeous deep orange soup. THEN I added (per a recommendation I found online) a, ah, entire container of 1/3 less fat cream cheese. And pureed again.
Delicious? Yes. Diet-friendly? No.
So tonight, I created a similar soup, but this time I didn't use a slow cooker (I had to cook that sucker FAST!), and also left out the cream cheese.
And here's the kicker, kids! It was JUST as good - if not better! Mmm, I can still taste the pure buttery taste of the squash, married with cayenne pepper and fresh ginger. It was refreshing yet satisfying.
You want to make it, don't you? Ok, I'll share. I used this recipe and just made some simple modifications - I used 4 cups of water instead of 6, added ginger, nixed the butter (used olive oil instead, but not as much). bouillon instead of broth (pretty much the same thing anyway), and added cayenne, pumpkin pie spice, and just a dash (or two. or three.) of brown sugar.
Seriously, this soup was so simple and delicious, and I bet we'll get 3 more meals out of it. Saving money? Check. Eating right? Check.
What's your favorite soup recipe?
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