Okay, gentle reminder: I live in Florida. The sun is shining brightly and it is a beautiful day. However, baby, it’s COLD outside. I know those of you that live up North are thinking I’m being a wimp. I don’t care. We don’t get a lot of cold weather here so when it does arrive it’s always breath-taking when I walk outside.
It’s nice for a day or two but then I’m over it. Luckily it only lasts a day or two. It was 49 degrees at 4:00pm yesterday, that means I’m on the two day homestretch. I’m not built for cold. Obviously.
However, this is a great time to make a big pot of my favorite warm-me-up: Roasted Butternut Squash Soup. Oh. My. Goodness. It is like a warm, hug-in-a-mug!
Ingredients:
- 1 large butternut squash
- 1 medium yellow onion
- 64 oz vegetable broth
- 1 cup apple cider
- 1 1/2 cups half and half
- 15 oz can of pumpkin puree
- 2 tbsp honey
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 tsp curry
- 1 tbsp cinnamon
- Salt & pepper
Start by cutting the butternut squash in half or if you really want to be special, take the skin off and then cut it into cubes for roasting. It’s more work that way but it cooks faster. Also, quarter the onion and place that and the squash on a sheet pan. Drizzle some olive oil over everything and pop in the sauna set at 400 degrees.
Roast these veggies for about an hour. These beauties are absolutely delicious by themselves because the sweetness comes out during the roasting process and they just melt in your mouth!
Let these cool and if you haven’t gotten the skin off prior to roasting, you can scoop the squash right out. Time to get these two together even more! I use my Ninja Bullet to puree the onion and squash with a little bit of the vegetable broth but you can use a blender or food processor if that is what you have on hand.
Once you’ve gotten everything pureed, transfer it to a stock pot. Add the cinnamon, curry, salt, pepper and the honey into the pool.
Now it’s time to add the remaining vegetable broth, apple cider, and the pumpkin puree. Bring it to a boil then back off the heat to a simmer for about 15 minutes as all of these ingredients get to know each other better.
The final step to the destination of warmth and yumminess is to add in the half and half. You could use heavy cream but I choose to got ever-so-slightly lighter and use the half and half.
I usually let it cook for another 10-15 minutes and then I shut off the heat completely and let it sit for an hour. I suffer silently for that hour because I can smell it, and it’s oh-so-near but I restrain myself so I can enjoy the payoff…pure scrump-dilly-iciousness.
I store mine in mason jars in the fridge and enjoy it for weeks! Truly, you won’t find a better Squash Soup anywhere. Yep, I’m a “Souper Mom” once again.
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