When life hands you Butternut Squash.....

....make soup!!!

I was in a hurry last week gathering ingredients to make Chicken Marsala, which was pretty tasty by the way, anyway, I decided to serve it with spaghetti squash instead of pasta, got the idea from my friend Barb, who served said squash with Shrimp Scampi, so I thought why not serve it with Chicken Marsala. Great choice. At the West Alabama Fiesta, I ran in grabbed the squash, a few other items and dashed home. When I pulled the squash out of the bag, I realized I had gotten a Butternut Squash, not the Spaghetti Squash that I had intended. Dashed back to the store, got the right squash, well the right squash for what I was cooking, kept the Butternut Squash, because I love Butternut Squash Soup, which I had never made, but thought it was high time that I tried it. Long story short, here is my recipe for Butternut Squash Soup. I borrowed some ideas from an online recipe, modified it. Love that about soup!!!!

This is Butternut Squash, silly me!

This is Spaghetti Squash, of course!!!

Butternut Squash Soup

1 2-3 pound Butternut Squash peeled and seeds removed, chopped in 1ish inch cubes.

3 Leeks, cleaned and thinly sliced

2 tablespoons butter

6 cups Organic Chicken Broth (or not organic or make your own)

1 tablespoon ground ginger or more if you like

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon or more

1.5 teaspoon salt or more

1/2 teaspoon red pepper

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

raw pumpkin seeds

The hardest part about this soup is peeling the Squash. It has a very tough skin.

Use at least a five quart stock pot.

Melt butter then add leeks, 

I like to dress my Leeks up a bit.

Leeks cooking in butter. It doesn't get much better than that.

Chopped up Butternut Squash

salt and pepper, sautee until soft, add squash, add chicken broth, cook until squash is soft, remove from pan with a slotted spoon, blend together, put back in pot add spices. Bring to a boil, turn down heat and let simmer for an hour. Pour into a bowl and add the raw pumpkin seeds. Believe it or not, this soup tastes even better the next day!!! Do I hear a yummmyyyy?!

Quote of the day: "You can do almost anything with soup stock, it's like a strong foundation. When you have the right foundation, everything tastes good."  Martin Tan