Hello again!
How has everybody been with the heat? Friday August 10 was a high for Calgary at 37 degrees celsius, and man was it hot! I actually ended up getting a cold last week (I know, I don't get it either but apparently it can happen in the summer) which was not fun because:
1. It was my birthday last week and being sick on your birthday is never fun. I actually ended up just spending the evening in bed watching Bachelor in Paradise.
And 2. Anytime I have a cold I just want to cuddle up in blankets galore and wear sweatpants but since it was so warm I couldn't get fully comfortable. But I survived! Yay!
ANYWHO- about 2ish weeks ago I made homemade butternut squash soup and not to toot my own horn.... but it was delicious! Took a bit longer to make than I was hoping it would but only because I had no idea how to safely cut and peel a butternut squash so it took me forever. BUT. If you are a capable human being, this will take you about 30-45 minutes less than I took and it's so worth it.
This soup is amazing because you don't need to have vegetable or chicken stock lying around, and by not using a stock you are able to control the amount of sodium you want in your soup which makes it healthier!
Also- I didn't think to take photos of the full process but I do have a picture of the end result!
Ingredients:
1 large squash (cut and peeled into cubes)
1 red bell pepper (roughly chopped)
1 medium yellow onion (roughly chopped)
3 cloves of garlic (peeled and diced)
7 cups of water
1 tablespoon of salt (can add more or less if wanted)
2 tablespoons of sugar (can add more or less if wanted)
1 tablespoon of ground pepper (can add more or less if wanted)
1/2 cup heavy cream
SO you want to put everything except the cream into a large pot; bring to a boil and then let it simmer for about 35 minutes or until the squash feels/looks like it could be easily blended up.
Once that is done, you can use a hand-held immersion blender (I just used a regular blender because I'm not really that fancy) and puree the soup until silky smooth. Make sure to alternatively let it cool and add a couple cups at a time so that your blender does not get overloaded with all of the steam (I learned this the hard way and had soup spill out multiple times). After everything is blended up put everything back into the pot, add the cream, stir, and bring to a simmer.
Try your masterpiece, and depending on how the spices taste you can either brag to everyone about how good it is, or add more spices and then brag about how good it is! Ladle it into some bowls and enjoy!
Now look at how beautiful this soup is!
I love how easy this soup is and how minimal the ingredients are. Usually the reason why I stay away from soup is for how much sodium is in them, or if I have to make it it usually involves a lot of vegetables and spices. This soup is great because since you are not using a stock as the base, you can control the amount of salt that is going into it.
If you use this recipe, make sure to comment either here or on facebook or on instagram and let me know how you like it!
Xoxo,
Callista