Soup Weather is Upon Us

While my parents were here visiting, we didn't try a lot of new recipes, but we did make a lot of old ones. Mom and I made lots of pies - lemon meringue, rhubarb, pumpkin, and butterscotch meringue. Mom made two batches of butter tarts (PERFECT, MOM, PERFECT!), two batches of cottage cheese perogies and a big ol' batch of cabbage rolls. So one whole batch of perogies and all but three of the cabbage rolls are all in the freezer to be consumed, oh, probably within the next month because we can't stay away from my Mom's cooking for too long.

A week or two before Mom & Dad got here, I set out to make squash soup per Beck's post here. First, I realized that I totally didn't have enough time to use the crock pot so I was just going to make it in a pot on the stove. Then I made an even bigger realization.

We bought one of these:

This is a butterCUP squash.

instead of one of these:

This is a butterNUT squash.

Oops. Turns out it's a common mistake. Even when we were searching online to figure out which was which, we found a lot of people making the same mistake. At any rate, we made some soup and I added curry and chili powder and it turned out great and Mr. J. even had seconds (he's so full of self-control - he never has seconds) and remarked how we should make it again soon. So last week we purchased the CORRECT squash and I decided to try again. Since it worked well to make the soup on the stove top the first time and I was a little pressed for time, I decided to wing it again. Therefore, I present to you the following recipe (sans picture, because I just ate the last of the soup that didn't hit the freezer last night), which Mr. J. would have but did not have time to eat seconds of and also commented we should make again because it turned out that good!

Savoury ButterNUT Squash Soup
Ingredients:
1 average-sized butterNUT squash, peeled, seeded, and cut into 1-inch pieces (this is easier than it sounds)
3 celery stalks, finely diced
1 medium onion, finely diced
4 T. butter, divided
2 chicken-flavoured oxo cubes plus 4 cups water OR 4 cups chicken stock
1/4 t. rosemary
1/4 t. thyme
1/2 t. salt
pepper to taste
1 t. paprika
4 oz. reduced-fat cream cheese (optional)

Directions: Melt 2 T of butter in a soup pot and cook celery and onions until soft. Remove from pot and set aside. Melt the second 2 T of butter and cook (and slightly brown) the squash until its soft. Add the oxo cubes and water (or chicken stock) and spices and let simmer for about 20 minutes on med-low heat (if the soup has cooked down quite a bit, go ahead and add a couple more cups of water - it won't hurt it). If you're using the cream cheese, add it now and stir until it's mostly melted. Then use an immersion blender* and puree until soup is smooth. Serve hot with crackers or biscuits or whatever you like to eat with soup.

*Or use a regular blender and puree in small batches. BE CAREFUL with hot liquids in a blender and make sure your small children aren't standing too close!