I like to welcome the coolers days of September with big batches of homemade stews, curries or hearty soups. It is almost like a hug in a bowl. In our home, Sunday lunches are a big pot of something. The batch is big enough to feed us all one meal to enjoy together as well as having leftovers to enjoy for weekday lunches.
In addition to being delicious, stews, curries and soups are a great way to clean out the fridge from bits and pieces of this and that and reduce waste. I will often start with a base recipe and add extra veggies as I clear out the fridge from produce that doesn’t look as beautiful as the day I bought it, but still has great flavour and nutritional value.
I often fondly remember my husband’s grandmother, Oma, when in the kitchen. Oma had a remarkable way of almost making something from nothing. I remember unexpectedly stopping in for little visits and being invited to stay for lunch. Having already peeked in Oma & Opa’s fridge, probably when getting milk for tea, and there didn’t seem to be an abundance of food. It seemed enough for two people, but not for extra people who had surprised them with a visit. Somehow though, Oma always seemed to pull something delightfully delicious and no one left the table hungry. Oma also re-used milk bags, bread tags and incorporated what we might automatically think as waste, into recipes. Because of Oma, I know that adding a little dill pickle juice to your potato salad is magical. Oma was reducing, reusing and recycling before the blue bin was invented.
With this in mind, I would like to introduce you to my Butternut Squash Soup recipe. The beauty of this recipe is that it is delicious with surprisingly few ingredients. Don’t have any squash? No problem. Swap out squash for carrots, sweet potatoes, pumpkin, or make it a combination. Cleaning out the fridge? Add in broccoli bits, diced red pepper, or whatever else inspires you.
Butternut Squash Soup
1 butternut squash
4 cups organic or homemade vegetable or chicken broth
1 small cooking onion
1 inch piece of ginger
1 clove garlic
½ lime, freshly squeezed
Sea salt to taste
1 can coconut organic milk
1 tbsp coconut oil
Wash & cut squash in half, remove seeds & place face down on a baking sheet in water. Bake at 375°F until soft. Allow to cool before trying to scoop squash out. Sauté onion in oil or butter until onion becomes transparent. Add minced garlic & chopped ginger. Sauté this for about a minute on medium heat. Remove from heat and add squash, coconut milk & broth. Season with sea salt. Using an immersion blender, blend until smooth. If you don’t have an immersion blender, you can allow soup to cool and blend in a regular blender. Just before serving, squeeze ½ lime into soup. This soup is great and you can swap out the squash for carrots, pumpkin or sweet potatoes. Enjoy!
Make life a little easier by purchasing cubed butternut squash. You can find this either in the fresh produce section or in the frozen aisle of grocery stores.
Leave A Comment