Super Easy Butternut Squash Soup

We had a HUGE butternut squash from our CSA box that I wanted to use up. I knew I had tons of butternut squash recipes, and sure enough I found a soup one. I have a big binder full of recipes I've printed off from websites, copied down from friends and family and cut out of magazines and the newspaper.

This particular recipe came from the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. I have no idea when, but I would guess I clipped it out years ago. It's for Spiced Butternut Squash Soup. It's a very easy, basic recipe that turned out great. The worst part was peeling and cubing the gigantic butternut squash we had. That process took a while and bent a potato peeler my parents got me in Sweden.

Here's the recipe:

Spiced Butternut Squash Soup

-4.5 lbs. butternut squash, pumpkin or sweet potatoes (I think my squash was more like 5 lbs., maybe a little more)

-3 tbs. olive oil

-2/3 cup chopped red onion

-5 garlic cloves, minced

-1 teas. sweet paprika (I used regular paprika)

-1 teas. ground allspice

-1/2 teas. chili powder (optional) (and I should have used more than 1/2 teas.)

-2 teas. salt

-6 cups water (or more to cover--I used more since I had more squash than the recipe called for)

-1/2 cup yogurt, sour cream, half-and-half or non-dairy creamer

-1/2 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley (I skipped this)

Scrub squash well and cut off stem end. Slice in half lengthwise and remove seeds and strands. Peel and cut into cubes.

In a large soup pot with a cover, heat oil and saute onion over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until transparent and lightly golden. Add garlic and saute 1 minute. Add squash cubes, paprika, allspice, chili powder and salt. Add 6 cups of water (or enough to cover squash) and bring to a biol. Cover and cook over medium-low heat about 30-40 minutes, until squash is fork-tender.

Remove from heat and puree in batches in a food processor or blender (I used an emulsion blender). Return to pot and cook an additional 5 minutes (or reheat gently before serving). Can serve with yogurt/sour cream and parsley. Makes 8 servings.

We served our bowls of soup with a dollop of sour cream since we had some in our fridge, leftover from another recipe. The sour cream didn't do much though, and really just got lumpy. I added a little hot sauce to my bowl, too. The soup is really tasty and healthy. We served it with some leftover soda bread.