FitFeat

I have been wanting to make a butternut squash soup for some time and just haven’t done it.  I finally took the plunge because I happened upon a recipe where I had most of the ingredients and had the right things that I wanted to substitute in it.

You know I love Amy’s Organic Soups. But after a recent disappointment with her Butternut Squash soup, I wondered whether squash soup was just not supposed to be flavorful.

Oh, was I ever wrong.

Friends, let me tell you this soup is to die for.  I had a few tastes while it was in its final cooking stages and it was so good I knew I had better fill up on a huge salad before dishing this one because I may have just gone and eaten the whole thing otherwise!

The original recipe from Allrecipes.com called for a 2 lb butternut squash, but mine was only 1.25 pound.  I happened to have a leftover plain mashed sweet potato in the fridge so I used that to round out the lack of squash.  It also called for two pears, and I only had one.  So I used one pear and one apple.  Additionally I did not want to use butter or half-and-half, so I substituted Earth Balance (vegan butter) and MimicCreme in place of the half-and-half.   Thank you Allrecipes.com for the inspiration from which I have adapted the following.

The Ingredients:

• 1-1/4 lb butternut squash (cut in half, seeds removed, baked facedown for 40 minutes at 375 , then soft pulp scooped out & set aside)
• 1 small-med sweet potato (peeled, cut into chunks then boiled till soft, about 20 minutes)
• 2 tbsp Earth Balance vegan butter spread
• 1/2 onion
• 2 cloves minced garlic (I used a canned pre-minced version)
• 2 tsp minced ginger (again, I used a canned pre-minced version)
• 1 tbsp curry powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 cans of chicken or vegetable broth (14 oz cans) + 6 oz water
• 1 firm pear, peeled & diced
• 1 gala apple, peeled & diced
• 1/2 cup MimicCreme

The Preparation:

1.) Once the sweet potato and squash are prepared and set aside, melt the earth balance in your soup pot over medium.  Add onion, garlic, ginger, curry powder and salt.  Cook until onion is soft.  Mine took about 8 minutes.

2.) Add the broth and water to the pot and bring to a boil.

3.) Add in the pear, apple, sweet potato and squash.  Simmer for 30 minutes (until pear and apple are soft).

4.) Blend in batches until smooth and creamy.  Return to pot, stir in the MimicCreme, and reheat.  Simmer until ready to serve.

5.) Try not to eat it straight out of the soup pot face-first.  It will taunt you with its delicious aroma.

Enjoy!!

Action shots:   

Related FitFeat Posts to Check Out:

• What’s The Best Healthy Meal You’ve Had Lately?
• Grilled Blackstrap Pineapple
• Tequila Lime Shrimp