More soup for your soul

This soup makes me really happy. It's perfect. It probably beats all other soups I have made, even the Carrot, Ginger, and Cashew soup. I'll leave you with that...and, of course, the recipe.


Butternut Squash Soup

3 whole butternut squash, peeled and diced
3 stalks celery, diced
1/2 onion, diced
1 carrot, diced
1 tbsp. ground ginger
1 qt. vegetable stock (or chicken stock)
1/4 cup vegetable oil
salt and pepper

1. Sauté onion, carrot, celery and squash until onions and celery are translucent, about 5 minutes.

2. Add ground ginger and vegetable stock. Simmer 15-25 minutes until squash is soft.

3. Puree mixture; season to taste with salt and pepper.






P.S. This recipe is from my friend Maggie's sister, Claire's, cookbook. It is no normal cookbook. In an effort to raise money for the Evanston Community Foundation, she went around and asked for recipes from a few favorite restaurants in Evanston, IL. Well, she did a great job. The cookbook has a lot of great recipes, and it makes you wonder why the restaurants even gave away their secrets! This butternut squash soup recipe is from a restaurant called Prairie Moon. Great idea, right?

P.S.S. This soup is actually one of three parts. It is one part of New Mexican Painted Soup. The second part is a tomato soup and the third part is a roasted poblano potato puree. You are supposed to layer the three soups. Start with the squash soup, then the tomato soup, and then the roasted poblano soup. If you want, you can swirl them all together, or enjoy them separately. Don't worry, I will give you the two other recipes! Did you really think I would leave you with just that?

Tomato Soup

8 Roma tomatoes, diced
1 whole onion, diced
1 tbsp. garlic
2 cups vegetable stock
1 bay leaf
salt and pepper

1. Sauté onions until translucent. About 5 minutes.

2. Add garlic. Sauté for 30 seconds.

3. Add bay leaf. Sauté to toast leaf, releasing flavors.

4. Toss in diced tomatoes.

5. Add vegetable stock. Bring to boil, and then reduce to simmer 20 minutes.

6. Puree.

7 Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Roasted Poblano Potato Puree

2 poblanos
1 diced onion
1 large potato diced
2 tbsp. vegetable oil
1-1/2 cup vegetable stock
salt and pepper

1. Roast poblanos in oven (high heat!). Cover in bowl with plastic wrap for 10 minutes until skin is tender. Remove skin and seeds.

2. Sauté the onions until translucent, about 5 minutes, add potatoes and cook another 5 minutes. Add chilies.

3. Add vegetable stock and simmer for 20 minutes.

4. Puree and season to taste.

Soup for the Soul

I disappeared for a while. I know. Life seems unusually busy...but maybe thats just all in my head!

Anyway...

Soup. There is just something about a great soup. It's so warm and comforting. It makes you feel like you should wrap up in a blanket, throw on some slippers and cozy up on a couch before devouring a gigantic bowl. Especially with all this snow we've had, it seems like the perfect heart-warming meal. At least that's how I feel! Not so sure about you.

So surprise, surprise...I have been on a soup kick. They are so downright simple. And you end up making a lot and you can throw it in your freezer and use it when you want or need to like I have this week for lunches. Just make sure you have a really good piece of Tupperware for carrying it to work. As if that was not already obvious! I have these awesome ones that I am obsessed with. Nothing can get through the lids. They are made by Ziploc, in case you are curious.

But that is neither here nor there.

The soup! This soup is delicious. There aren't enough words to tell you how much I love this soup. It's creamy, smoky, sweet, silky, savory....and everything in between. The best part...it's uber good for you. I know I told you it's creamy, but I in no way used a drop of anything dairy-like. All of the ingredients are raw, which only makes me love this soup more.

This is definitely not the only recipe out there, but I used the one I found on Savory & Sweet. It's a great recipe, and of course, I highly recommend it.

Carrot Ginger Soup with Cashews adapted from Savory & Sweet

*2 lb. carrots, peeled and cut into 1 inch pieces
*4 cups water

*1 Tablespoon olive oil
*1-1/2 cups chopped onion
*2 cloves garlic, minced
*2 Tablespoons freshly grated ginger
*1-1/2 teaspoons salt

*1/4 teaspoon cumin
*1/4 teaspoon ground fennel
*1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
*1/4 teaspoon allspice

*3-4 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
*3/4 cup toasted cashews

1. Place the carrots in a medium saucepan and add the water. Bring to a boil, cover and cook until the carrots are very tender (10-15 minutes)

2. Heat the olive oil in a small fry pan. Add onion and cook over medium heat until translucent. Add ginger, garlic, salt, and spices. Lower the heat and continue to saute for another 8-10 minutes, until the onions are soft. Stir in lemon juice.

3. Combine the spice-onion mixture with the carrots and the cashews. Use a blender to puree the mixture until smooth.

(Serves 8-10)

Feel free to devour numerous servings yourself!!