Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

Butternut Squash, one of my kids' favorite foods to eat in the fall. They love to eat it roasted, served with cinnamon and honey for breakfast on a regular basis. Healthy and cheap too. Especially if you are able to grow them in your garden. This week I decided to make Roasted Butternut Squash Soup with a couple BNS I had on hand. As a kid I don't remember if I liked it, but since the kids love BNS, why not make a soup?



Please bear with me as I am not an exact measurement kind of gal.



2 butternut squash

1 large yellow onion

1 carrot

2 potatoes, I had them lying around so why not throw those in?

1 head of garlic, yes a whole head

a little olive oil

salt

4-5 c. water

1T chicken bullion (I prefer the Better Than Bullion in the jar)

1 T. dried Thyme

1 T. dried Marjoram

1/2 c. whole milk



Wash and cut the BNS in half. Roast cut side down on a greased cookie sheet at 375 degrees for about 30 minutes, or until they are fork tender. During that time, roast your head of garlic. Cut off the top of the head, drizzle with olive oil, wrap in foil and toss it in with the squash. The garlic should be soft and squishy but not burnt.



After BNS has cooled, scoop out and toss seeds, scoop out out squash and place in a bowl. Dice onion, carrot, and peeled potato and saute in olive oil until soft. Add in herbs, squash, water, bullion and simmer until all veggies are soft.



Use an emulsion blender to blend soup (with stove off of course) and add milk before serving.



I didn't have chives on hand which I would have loved to sprinkle on top. Instead I had some day old Italian Bread which I cubed, drizzled with olive oil, sprinkled with salt and crushed garlic and baked into some pretty tasty croutons.

Ode To The Whole Chicken

One of my favorite, versitile foods is the whole chicken. You can roast, bbq, cook it in the crock pot or boil for a multitude of uses. This week, one sad little chicken became 3 meals to feed a family of 6 (counting the babe). Day 1, boil the chicken in a pot of water with sea salt, pepper, celery, onion, garlic and carrots. Use half the shreaded chicken for my Mexican Chicken and Rice Soup garnished with avocado and sides of warm corn tortillas. Day 3, use the other half of the shreaded chicken to make chicken salad sandwhiches using more celery, onion and apple. Day 4, use the frozen chicken broth to make a pot of lentils with yes, carrots, celery and onion. This time I added some some Indian Spices and served with flat bread.