Squash Soup

Jim and I both loved this soup. It had great flavor and was hearty enough to eat as a meal in itself (with a little cornbread, YUM!) but not too much to add a smaller portion to a sandwich for lunch or a late afternoon snack. Plus, I was able to use a lot of ingredients from our garden, including the squash. It was a little time consuming but not necessarily difficult. I will definitely be making it again!

Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

2 medium butternut squash

1 batch of celery, diced

1 large apple, peeled and chunked

~1 C. carrots, diced ( I used what I had available from our garden, so probably a little less)

1 medium onion (I actually used ~6 small spring onion from our garden)

3-4 sprigs rosemary

8-10 C. vegetable stock

2 C. apple juice

1 C. half & half

nutmeg

cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cut the squash in half lengthwise (using a sharp knife and a little muscle) and remove seeds.

Place squash cut side down in roasting pan (s).

Spread carrots, onion, celery, apples, and rosemary around the squash.

Add 2 C. vegetable stock and 1 C. apple juice.

**Since I was using two smaller roasting pans I dividing the amount between the two pans. Basically you want a 2:1 of stock: juice enough to cover most of the veggies and keep the bottom of the squash moist. You can varying the amount depending on the size of squash & pan size you have**

Roast until tender (~1 hrs) and the skin begins to pull away easily.

**I have double oven and had one pan in each oven. If you're using a larger pan or double pans in the same oven you may need to lengthen the cooking time**

Remove from oven and let cool enough to handle (but not until cold).

Spoon roasted squash out of skin.

Blend squash pulp, roasted veggies, juice/broth from roasting and remaining vegetable stock and apple juice until you get your desired thickness.

**I have an immersion blender so I transferred directly to my soup pot then poured in the roasted veggies and juice directly from the roasting pan, removing only the rosemary. Without and immersion blender you'll need to transfer the squash and veggies into a blender or food processor**

Once the all the blended soup is transferred to a soup pot, add half & half, cinnamon, & nutmeg.

Simmer for at least 20 minutes, stirring as needed.

Enjoy!