Hearty Homemade Butternut Squash Soup
There's nothing like bundling up with a soft blanket and a bowl of good butternut squash soup on a chilly day. We tried several different recipes with varied ingredients to bring you the best of the best. Some were chicken broth based, some totally vegetarian and soymilk based, some had apples and onions in them and various spices and flavors. The overall heartiest and creamiest and most delicious time after time was surprisingly the vegetarian version. Here is the winning recipe (do try this at home):
Ingredients
1 whole butternut squash
5 1/2 C plain soy milk
1 C warm water
1/4 C brown rice flour
3 Tbsp expeller pressed safflower oil or olive oil
1 Tbsp garlic powder
1 or 2 tsp sea salt (to taste)
1 tsp pepper (to taste)
A few dashes ginger powder (to taste)
A few dashes cinnamon (to taste)
A few dashes nutmeg (to taste)
Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Cut butternut squash in half, lengthwise and scoop out the seeds and pulp (you can save these for planting in your garden next year, or to toast in the oven later for a delicious snack)
3. Place butternut squash in baking dish, flat side down, and fill with 1 C warm water
4. Put garlic powder and oil in the dish and swish with the water
5. Bake for 1 hour to 1 1/2 hour (usually closer to 1 1/2 hour)
6. Take butternut squash out of the oven when ready and cut into 1 inch square pieces.
7. put half of the pieces carefully into food processor, then add 2 C soy milk (you may be able to add the whole butternut squash and soymilk at the same time, but my food processor was not that big).
8. Cream the mixture until there are no more chunks and then place into a cooking pot.
9. Repeat processing with remaining butternut squash and soy milk and add that to the pot as well.
10. Simmer mixture for about 5- 10 minutes and add the sea salt, pepper, ginger, cinnamon and nutmeg to taste. This is the fun tasting part to see how much spice works for your taste buds.
Viola! Delicious, vegetarian, creamy, hearty and very healthy butternut squash soup.
