A very fall type of soup.

Time for another soup! I am finding when I make soup that it makes the best lunch the next day. This one was no exception. I've been hoarding up a few squash, which really hasn't been too hard, planning on making this soup for a few weeks now. Bowing to my husband's request, this soup went to the back burner in honor of corn chowder and chicken tortilla soup. I didn't give him a choice this week, I was making the squash soup.

One thing that drew me to this recipe was that you roast the squash then add it to your soup base. It made this soup so much easier. I was using Delicata and Kabocha squash. The Delicata is a decently easy one to peel with a vegetable peeler, I've done it for sides with dinner a few times now. But the Kabocha? Nuh uh, forget about it. It is a tough one and I didn't want to even try and peel it while raw. Roasting then scooping the squash out was perfect.

The other thing that attracted me to this was the addition of curry powder. Squash is one of those foods that really takes to seasoning well. You want it sweet, no problem. Savory? Easily done. I had a feeling the curry powder would be a really good thing for this soup.

The only thing I wish I had for this soup was my own chicken stock. I had a batch ready to go that I had made over the weekend, unfortunately it took a tumble out of the fridge and was lost to the kitchen floor. Nothing could be done because not only did the lid pop off the container it was but, but the container cracked too! It just wasn't meant to be.

Enjoy!


Velvety Squash Soup

From Cooking Light
4 WW points per 1 cup serving

5 pounds winter squash (I used delicata and kabocha, butternut and acorn also work. Grab random squash at the store and give them a try.)

Cooking spray

2  cups  coarsely chopped onion
2  teaspoons  olive oil
5  cups  fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
2/3  cup  apple cider
2  tablespoons  molasses
1  teaspoon  curry powder
3/4  teaspoon  salt
1/4  teaspoon  red pepper flakes
2/3  cup  evaporated milk

Preheat oven to 425°.

Cut each squash in half lengthwise; discard seeds and membranes. Place squash, cut sides down, on a jelly-roll pan coated with cooking spray.

Combine onion and oil, tossing to coat. Spread onion mixture onto pan around squash. Bake at 425° for 45 minutes or until squash and onion are tender. Cool slightly. Scoop out squash pulp from skins; discard skins.

Place onion and squash pulp in a Dutch oven. Stir in broth and the next 5 ingredients (through pepper); bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer 5 minutes.

If you have an immersion blender, blend the soup to a smooth texture in the pan. If not, use a regular blender and puree it to a smooth texture in 3-4 small batches. With the soup back in the dutch oven, stir evaporated milk. Cook over medium heat 5 minutes or until thoroughly heated.

I just noticed that I kinda ripped off the photo posted with the original recipe. Go me?