Butternut Squash "Soup"

I needed a clean eating dairy and sugar free soup option for my diet. So I improvised something delicious.

Ingredients:

• 1 Butternut Squash
• 1/2 a Granny Smith Apple
• 1/4 White Onion
• 1 Clove of garlic (minced)
• 1 small to medium carrot
• 1/2 a stalk of celery
• Pinch of Cinnamon
• Nutmeg to taste
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 2-5 Tablespoons of cold water

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Stab uncooked squash with fork a few times and pop it in microwave for a minute. (This makes it easier to cut.) Then cut in half, length wise, and scoop out seeds and gross stringy bits. Place squash halves cut side down on cookie sheet (optionally lined w/ tin foil to prevent mess) and put in preheated oven for about 45 minutes. (This time will depend on how big your squash is.) Once cooked remove the skin from the squash and puree flesh in a blender/processor/with a fork.

Sautee sliced onion, apple, carrot, garlic and celery in a pan adding a bit of water to steam the veggies and help everything from sticking to the pan if you are not using oil. I covered my mixture with tin foil for a while and let it all singe a bit for a stronger taste. Then, puree this mixture in food processor. Combine it with the squash in a soup pot and add the salt, pepper and spices while stirring, keeping warm, and tasting. I think the nutmeg is what makes this meal but it is easy to add too much. If you find the taste too strong you can water it down or add milk or a bit of broth if you want. When it has the "right" taste you can use an immersion blender to puree further and get rid of any chunks. What you are left with is almost more like baby food than soup but I think it is delicious and it has been one of the meals that has kept me from thinking I am on a diet.

The recipe doesn't yield much soup but it's strong and concentrated so, as I said, it can be made more soupy with water/milk/cream/broth.

image of squash via and of the soup via