Butternut Squash Soup

Butternut is the ingredient that brings me the greatest feeling of Autumn harvest.  I love it in just about any way and it is super nutritious.  One of my absolute favorite forms of butternut is in a creamy, velvety soup.  Many times I've had butternut soup that was way too sweet.  This soup is more savory using the butternut as its own natural and non-overwhelming sweetener.

Ingredients:

• 3 T butter
• 1 onion, sliced
• 4 cloves garlic, pressed or minced
• 1/2 tsp. thyme
• 1 butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1" cubes
• 8 cups water
• 4 chicken bouillon cubes
• 1-2 pinches cumin
• salt and pepper

*You may have to adjust ingredients to taste, depending on the size of your squash.  If you have a large squash you will probably need to add more water and spices.

Wash and peel your squash.  Peeling can be difficult but it is important to not leave any peel behind.

Cut it into even cubes of about one inch.

Slice or chop (it doesn't matter because it will be pureed anyway) your onion and put it into a large soup pan with the hot melted butter.  Add the garlic and cook until the onion has softened.  Do not brown or caramelize the onion!  Mix in the thyme.

Add the butternut cubes, water, and the chicken bullion cubes.  You could use 8 cups of chicken broth instead of the water and bouillon.

Bring to a boil and simmer for about 15 minutes until the squash has softened.

You must remove the pot from the heat source completely at this point.  Using a stick blender, puree the soup until no chunks are left.  Be very careful not to splatter hot soup out of the pot.

It works best if you tilt it to the side slightly so all the chunks and pieces fit under the blender.  If you find it's getting too thick to blend, add a little bit of hot wa

It will look something like this when all the ingredients are pureed.  Add the salt, pepper and cumin to taste and blend or stir it through.

This soup is delicious and would be great for a light dinner on Thanksgiving Eve.