Beat The Winter Cold With My Roasted Butternut Squash Soup!

Welcome, all! It has been below freezing here in Northern California, which has me baking and cooking a lot.  If not for the food, for the warmth it provides in the home!  
This was actually a recipe I emailed to a dear friend, she loves it so much, as do I,  I wanted to share it with you!! 

If you are a regular to my Blog you already know I don't "do" recipes the way most people do, I explain them. Once again, I can't say this enough, the "way" you make something is as important as the ingredients you use! I hope you enjoy it!

Peel and cut your butternut into equal size pieces ( about 1 to 1-1/2 inches)

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees F.

Now you are ready to place your cut pieces in a bowl (make sure you have room to toss the butternut well) Then sprinkle with 1 Tbsp. of salt and 1 Tbsp. of white sugar over the top of the butternut.  

Place 1 tbsp of butter in a microwave-safe bowl,
 add 1- 1-1/2 tbsp of extra virgin light olive oil and microwave 20 seconds so the butter melts, swirl together so your butter and oil combined.  
Slowly pour oil mixture over the top of your cut butternut.  Take a spatula and fold the butternut with the oil until coated and shiny.

Pour onto a cookie sheet and smooth out to an even layer.

Cover with foil. Press foil down over your butternut mixture, don’t wrap over edges and seal off, you do not want to steam it. Bake in the oven covered at 450F  for 15-25 minutes, check to see that your butternut is fork tender when it is, give it a good turn with your spatula and place back in the oven for another 5- 10 minutes to caramelize,  just long enough to see some browning on the edges.  

     After 

Yummm!!  These are the sweetest little morsels you'll ever taste! Good luck keeping enough to make your soup! I have actually had to bake a second squash.

Remove and set on a side burner.

Meanwhile, in a large saucepan combine, with some olive oil:

I large or 2 mediums yellow onions, chopped
Chop 1 cup of celery
2-3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1-2 medium potato, finely chopped (hash brown size)
3 small carrots, finely chopped
Lightly salt your vegetables, and saute (covered) on medium-low heat until onions are transparent, add 1 can of Swanson’s chicken broth.
Add your roasted butternut squash and 1 – 2 more cans of Swanson’s chicken broth.  It's all about the texture and consistency you like from here.  Cook on medium for approximately 20 more minutes; use a slotted spoon to mash your butternut chunks into the other veggies.  Season to taste.  Turn off your heat.  It should look like this:

Now you are ready to ladle ½ of your soup into a blender, start on slow, increase to the 2^nd setting, at this point, you add ½ cup milk and 2 tablespoons of cream cheese.  (add while blender is still on)

Add puree back to remaining soup.  If you like you can puree all of your soup, I have found that is nice to have a little texture to your soup.  DO NOT BOIL AFTER YOU HAVE ADDED THE MILK.  If you do, you may see some separation of the milk.  You can serve now and for leftovers reheat on low heat and stir frequently just until desired heat.

That’s it!! I hope you enjoy. This one has certainly been a hit in my house and definitely guaranteed to warm you up. Store leftovers in the refrigerator.  God Bless!

I'm sharing with these lovely Ladies: