You might find this surprising, but my first adventurous foray into vegetables was at my friend Rebekah’s house. She made me butternut squash soup. I was apprehensive, but when she served it to me in a mug, I was sold.

I have a couple of soup recipes that we rotate. I LOVE homemade soups. There’s just something so very rewarding about taking a handful of veggies, some chicken stock, and some spices and turning it into a filling meal. We sometimes use those boxed soups, but I like being able to control the amount of sodium.

This recipe takes a while but I promise you, it’s delicious and totally worth it.

Ingredients:

-Olive oil

– 1 medium onion

– 2 cloves garlic

– 1 (2.5 lb) butternut squash

-6 cups chicken or vegetable broth

– 1 TBSP + 2 tsp curry powder (or tumeric…or a mixture of both)

– .5 tsp of salt

– 2 TBSP honey

– Almond milk

– Red pepper flakes

Directions

1. Okay. The squash. Butternut squash reminds me of a rock- a rock that you need to cut open and chisel out the insides before you can even begin to think about eating it. In the past, I have sliced it down the middle (using a chainsaw), flopped the pieces pulp side down on a baking sheet, and roasted at 400 degrees for 40-50 minutes. BUT that takes forever so today, I hacked into it with a knife, cut the hard part off, and then cut the remaining pieces into 1-inch squares. The boiling process (which I will talk about in a minute!) took a bit longer but not 40-50 minutes longer. You just have to fight with the stupid thing a little longer.

2. Ready now? In a stockpot, saute the onions and garlic until they’re soft.

3. Add your prepared butternut squash with your bloody stump of an arm because your knife bounced off the rind when you first attacked the squash. (Also add the broth, curry powder/tumeric, and salt). Bring to a boil.

4. Reduce the heat and simmer until the squash is tender. (Mine took about 20 minutes).

5. Remove the soup from the heat, stir in honey, and puree the whole kit’n’kaboodle in blender until it’s smooth. NOTE ABOUT BLENDING HOT SOUPS: (I forget this every single time so I’m actually just reminding myself) When you put hot things in the blender, if you slap the lid on tight and turn the blender on, it WILL explode and you will have piping hot soup on your face, walls, ceilings, counters, dog, husband, mailbox, car, and tennis shoes. The little plastic cap that comes out of the top of your blender lid isn’t just for easy cleaning. You can use it to vent the volcano of pressure that, for some reason, occurs when you blend hot things. All I’m saying is…be careful.

6. At this point, I went off the recipe and also added some almond milk (don’t ask me how much) while it was in the blender, put it back in the pan, and then added some red pepper flakes (quantity unknown). The resulting concoction was creamy, a little spicy, flavorful and delicious.

DO IT! JUST TRY IT! Everyone will be impressed that you make your own soups.