Wow... three years later and this blog is still live and I even knew the password to login to post- fun! Needless to say, I didn't hit my initial soup # goal over the course of the first year (not even close...), but I am now realizing how helpful it is to have some of my favorite recipes cataloged with such detailed notes to myself (pretty sure that I was the only one reading anyway and that's a-okay for me).
So three years later, one baby created (and now 17 months old!), and many hours of PhD coursework completed, I'm still cooking (albeit not as often). I may use this space to review soup recipes still, but no self-inflicted harm if I don't post for months (or years...). I didn't cook a soup this weekend, but I'll comment on a soup that I made this past year.
Butternut squash soup has always been a favorite of mine, dating back to the Hanover High School Cafe (pronounced "caff"...) where they served it up in an 8oz. styrofoam coffee cup- rich and sweet for $0.75. So, it is common for me to try new butternut soups when I see an intriguing recipe. The recipe has to be different enough from my standbys to make it worth the risk of deviating from something tried and true though, and this time it was the array of spices listed as ingredients that sucked me in. It was winter, and I had to make a special trip out to Penzy's in Olde Town Arvada just to get the star anise and a few others. Through the snow/sleet with baby C in the Ergo, but it was worth the trek. The Warm-Spiced Butternut Squash soup was delicious and interesting. It was silkier and smoother than some butternut soups and had a unique enough flavor profile to set it a part from most others. It wasn't a particularly thick soup and despite not having any added sugar, it was perfectly sweetened (which really means not too sweet to me). In fact, I made a second batch less than a month later when Ethan and his family came to visit. And, as I am typing this I am realizing that I may still have a pint or two in the deep freezer- yum!
This one is also healthier than many of the butternut soups out there that I like-- no added sugar, no added dairy (it is vegan). Really it is just the squash, olive oil (which I cut), and the spices. I even went the extra mile with the pomegranate seed garnish, but those are definitely not the deal-maker in this recipe.
