You know that loving feeling you get when your first born goes off to college and texts you a bucket list of recipes because they miss your dear old cooking? The first-semester break has rolled around, and my baby is coming home and is in need of something other than (insert gasp) pizza and taco salads. Needless to say, I reveled at the thought of us cooking the weekend away together.
A couple miscalculations on my behalf. My beloved chica also had plans with old schoolmates. So, I managed to grocery shop, inventory her list of homemade treats and grinned it out alone the first day. No guilt here, but I did make it known that I did, in fact, miss her more than I let on. Yes, I internalized and then made muffins. It’s a coping thing. Several blueberry muffins in fact. By the second day, I questioned the request of why I needed to double a soup recipe that I have never made or tasted but was later assured how much her dorm friends would enjoy the soup as well.
On my inventory shopping spree, I had on my list to buy butternut squash. The lazy, or methodical me, didn’t want to waste too much time cooking as opposed to visiting, so I almost bought the $6 package of pre-cut squash X3. Then fate overcame, as a much wiser in age little lady walked by and tsk’d me and shook her head. Yes, the beautiful butternut squash from a local grower was right over yonder each at a whopping 99 cents, and they were huge. I think my grandmothers were channeling their wisdom here.
Divine intervention again, child home AGAIN, happy and ready to cut squash and make soup. Insert a lot of tender moments and discussion of life here. I won’t go into details, but you will find towards the end of this post what I am referring to.
Her request for butternut squash had never been on my radar. For one, I have some kind of intolerance of the head-banging variety when it comes to dairy. So needless to say, I wouldn’t trust ordering it out. Thoughtfully, my child found a recipe that meets my PIA criteria. Doubling this recipe at the time was, in my opinion, a disaster. Roasting veggies for the soup required both of my ovens, all of my largest jelly roll pans and more than six food processing rounds to find out at the end the dang pot was too small. I do not like doing dishes, and she doesn’t either. Dramatic cursing ensues for 10 minutes. Thankfully, I had a considerable stockpot dedicated to shrimp boiling that fit the bill.
Ultimately, the soup turned out better than I expected. After filling 14 individual serving freezer containers, plus three 2 quart containers, I can say we have plenty for roomies and her to get thru the last weeks of autumn. The recipe assured that the soup would freeze well and would last 6 months– no problem. As the weekend ended with hugs and heels out the door, the dear child says she can only take 5 individual containers. Good grief.
So here I am first of November writing this post. Soup in hand, and it came to me how I needed to share this story. First off, the soup is damn good. Is it good because of my memories here? Maybe. But here is a replay of a favorite memory with those who taught me the joy of cooking. Some foods just taste better, like my mom’s apple pie. Is it because of the memory of her giving us the pie scraps to cinnamon sugar coat and bake? Maybe it’s the moments where food brings us together, the time we take to make and share a meal together. Not to sugarcoat things, I have had soup a few times this week already. But every time I do, I think about my daughter’s bucket list.
You can only guess what I will be serving next break? No sweat, I got it covered 😉
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Butternut Squash Soup
- Yield: 8 servings 1x
Ingredients
- 1 butternut squash, large
- 2 carrots
- 3 stalks celery
- 5 cloves garlic
- 1 onion, large
- 1 sprig, rosemary
- 6 sage leaves
- 6 sprigs thyme
- 3 1/2 cups vegetable stock
- 1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper (I added a bit more after tasting)
- Salt and Pepper to taste
- 2 Tbsp. olive oil
- a drizzle of sour cream or vegan yogurt
Instructions
First, preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Peel and deseed the butternut squash. It’s easier to peel if you wash it, prick with a fork them microwave for a minute. Once cooled, use a vegetable peeler to peel. I cut one end off to stabilize while peeling. Once peeled, cut in half and take seeds out. Cut squash in uniformly sized chunks.
Chop the rest of the veggies in same size pieces. Add all vegetables to a large rimmed roasting pan.
Peel garlic and add five cloves to pan.
Add the herbs, cayenne pepper, S&P, and olive oil. Stir to coat.
Roast for an hour or so until veggies are soft.
Remove stems from the herbs by just running thru fingers, leaving the leaves. Take veggies and place in a food processor with one cup of the vegetable broth and purée. Continue until all veggies are puréed.
Pour mixture in a large stockpot and add the rest of the vegetable broth. Stir and simmer on low for 15 minutes. At this point, you can adjust the “heat” by adding more cayenne pepper.
If you are daring this recipe will make 20 whopping cups if doubled. And indeed does freeze well for upwards of 6 months.
Side note: I froze several single serving bowls in BPA free containers and the day before I would thaw them out in my fridge for lunch the next day. The soup is very filling and paired excellently with my Chao cheese slices and Crunchmaster multi-seed crackers. Yes, dairy free, gluten free everything here, soup and all. No sponsored plugs, just calling a good pairing as I see them.
Notes
Adapted by aheadofthyme.com
Keywords: roasted, butternut, squash, soup, vegan
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