Five Ingredient Butternut Squash Soup

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Tonight I was faced with the question every person dreads.  What should I make tonight for dinner?  At least I dread it because asking myself this question means that I didn't plan a meal and now I have to come up with one on the fly using stuff I already have in the kitchen.  So in my search for inspiration, I came across some butternut squash that had been sitting in the fridge for a while and needed to be used.  "Liiiiightbulb", I said to myself.  I remembered that I had read some research on PCOS and found that reducing meat consumption is a good thing.  So yeah! Go me for listening!

I have never made butternut squash soup before and I was too lazy to look for a recipe online, so I decided to wing it.  Here is what I got:

1 large yellow onion, large dice
3 cloves of garlic, smashed
1 T. olive oil
64 ounces of butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cubed
8 c. low-sodium vegetable stock
Salt and pepper

Heat a large pot on medium-high, add the olive oil and onions and cook until onions are translucent.  Add the garlic and cook until you can smell it.

Next, add in the butternut squash and vegetable stock and allow to simmer until squash is tender.

Now comes the fun part.  You can puree the soup in a couple of ways.  You could blend is in a blender, or run it through a food processor, orrrrrr you can bust out the fancy immersion blender your husband bought you for Christmas.  I chose to bust out my new immersion blender because I hate dirtying stuff if I don't need to aaaand I wanted to show my husband how much I loved his gift.

Using the immersion blender also allows me to puree the soup in the pot and then salt and pepper to taste.  If I were to use a blender or food processor, I would have to season each batch separately.  Not fun.

The result is a naturally creamy, nutrient packed soup that is only 73 calories per serving.  Whhhhhaaaat!?!  Yes that's right, only 73 calories.  And in each bowl, you get 100% of the vitamin C you need in a day.  Plus loads of other beneficial nutrients.  You can check them all out here.  And did I mention that it tastes awesome and is basically the easiest soup in the world to make.  You seriously can't go wrong here. Pin It

So What If I'm Too Cheap To Run The Heater Vegetable Soup

One of the things that I am known for is being super stingy about running the heater in the winter (and the air conditioner in the summer).  The only three exceptions are if company is coming over, if I am trying to make bread rise (yes, our house gets cold enough to prevent bread from rising), or if I can see my breath in the house.  With that in mind, I try my best to make other things perform double duty to help keep warm.  Things like waiting to do the laundry until the coldest part of the day, or baking more meals, or eating tasty soup :)

Soup is easy, quick, filling, and healthy (as long as it isn't loaded with sodium).  The soup I made for dinner last night was all of those things plus an added bonus of tasting amazing.

Ingredients:

1 T. Olive Oil

2 medium carrots (small dice)

2 stalks of celery (small dice)

1 medium yellow onion (small dice)

3 garlic cloves (minced)

1 t. dried thyme

salt and pepper to taste

2 15oz. cans of cannelli beans (rinsed and drained)

1 28 oz. cans diced tomatoes

4 c. low-sodium vegetable stock

1/4 c. fresh parsley (chopped)

grated parmesan cheese (optional)

Directions:

Heat olive oil a large pot on medium-high heat.  Add in the carrots, celery, and onions.  Cook until onions are translucent.  Add in the garlic, thyme, salt and pepper and cook until you can smell the garlic.  Add in the rest of the ingredients (beans, tomatoes, stock, parsley) and bring the soup to a boil then turn to low and simmer until vegetables are tender (20-25 mins). Serve the soup with a sprinkle of parmesan cheese on top.  Makes four servings at 300 calories each.

Other ingredients that would taste good:

Kale (added in with tomatoes)

Spinach (added in the last couple of minutes of simmering)

Garbanzo beans (in place of cannelli beans)

Zucchini (added in with garlic)

Potatoes (added in with carrots)

The best part is that it takes less than an hour to make :)

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