Belly filling, warming, nourishing, taste bud pleasing. That’s a big boastful claim but we love this recipe and think this is the perfect healthy soup for cold fall and winter days. The best part is that this dish is completely clean; no weird ingredients, no creepy additives.

Why this is a smart food choice:

• Filling but low in calories
• High fiber
• All natural
• Very high in Vitamin A, B6, and C
• High in Calcium, manganese, potassium, Vitamin E, and magnesium
• Healthy source of clean, natural carbohydrate
• Easily modified into a vegan butternut squash soup recipe (recipe as listed is vegan)

It’s not a quick dish – it’s very quick to prep but the squash itself roasts for up to 60 minutes – so starting it before you’re starving, or before you start cooking the rest of your meal is a good way to time things so that you make the most efficient use of your time. It’s not fast but it’s a good lazy day meal (that can end up feeding you for several days after) that warms up your kitchen and makes your whole house smell great.

You will need:
1 Large butternut squash
1 Onion
1 Apple
2.5 Cups Milk – I used unsweetened almond milk but dairy, coconut, or soy would all work
1 Cup Water
10 Fresh leaves basil
1.5 Tbsp Olive oil
3 Garlic cloves
Pepper
Salt

First things first, get the squash cooking; cut it in half and roast it in the oven, at 420º for roughly 60 minutes.

Meanwhile, sauté these together in a saucepan:
1 Onion, diced
1 Apple (I used a golden delicious but you can get creative with what you’ve got), cored, peeled, diced
10 Basil leaves, fresh
1.5 Tbsp Olive oil
3 Garlic cloves, medium diced

Pepper generously; lightly salt

Once the squash is tender, let it cool a bit and then scoop it out with a spoon, adding it to the sautéed mix of apples and onions. Mash up large portions of squash.

Next, add the liquids:
2.5 Cups Milk
1 Cup Water

Use an immersion blender to liquefy the blend. You can also put your soup into a food processor or blender if you don’t have a hand blender.

At this point, you can easily make it thinner or thicker to your liking by adding more or less water and/or milk. The recipe as listed will lend itself to a thicker soup (the way we like it). The more liquid you add to your soup, the further it will go and you’ll also gradually be lowering the caloric content, as well.

Add salt and pepper to taste and you’re ready to eat. You can also get creative and add in different kinds of spices – there are a lot of different ways that this butternut soup recipe tastes great.

Serves approximately 5 people

Nutrition Information
Serving Size: Approx 400 g

Per Serving:
Calories: 160
Calories from Fat: 60
Total Fat 6.5 g
Saturated Fat: 0.8 g
Trans Fat: 0.0g
Cholesterol: 0 mg
Sodium: 137 mg
Total Carbohydrates: 26 g
Dietary Fiber: 5 g
Sugars: 8.9 g
Protein: 2.5 g
Vitamin A: 305%
Vitamin C: 59%
Calcium: 30%
Iron: 8%