Butternut Squash & Sage Soup

Not your ordinary cup-a-soup!

I'm on a soup kick. Black bean, pumpkin, and chicken noodle soups...all made from scratch recently. This one is butternut squash and sage. The two flavours work really well together to make a creamy and hearty soup. But don't mistake the creaminess for calories...there is no cream in the recipe. In fact, the calorie count for a cup and a half is about 200.

You also have the option of steaming or roasting the squash. I prefer the roasting method as it brings out more flavour and natural sweetness of the squash. If you choose to steam it peel and chop the squash into 2 inch chunks before steaming. If you roast it, I recommend 400 degrees for 40 minutes. Just cut the squash lengthwise in half and rub with a little olive oil and salt. Place on a pan cut side down. Once roasted and cool enough to touch, scrape out squash and you're ready to go.

Ingredients
3 medium size butternut squash
1 large sweet vidalia onion, chopped
1 medium leek, chopped (white and light green parts only)
1 apple, peeled and cored, chopped
3 garlic cloves, chopped
4 cups of stock (chicken or vegetable)
2 tsp oil
1-1/2 tsp dried sage
1/2 tsp pepper
salt to taste

What to do

• Steam or roast squash as discussed above.
• Add oil to frying pan and saute onion, leek and apple over medium heat for 5 minutes.
• Add pepper, garlic and sage. Saute for another minute.
• Add stalk and squash.
• Bring to boil and then reduce heat to simmer for 20 minutes.
• Using immersion blender, puree soup. If using a regular blender, puree in batches.
• Salt to taste.
• Enjoy now or freeze for later!