Butternut Squash Soup

• 2 cups of  Butternut Squash flesh
• 1 cup Mushroom Stems
• 4 cups chicken stock, low sodium if you can
• 1 teaspoon coconut oil
• 1/2 cup diced onion
• 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• 2 teaspoons Parsley, I used Gourmet Garden
• 1 teaspoon of Ginger, I used Gourmet Garden
• Salt & Black Pepper to taste
• 1 heaping teaspoon of Sambal (Garlic/Chili paste)
• 1/2 cup heavy cream can be substituted with Yogurt, Sour Cream or Silken Tofu

Preheat oven to 400° F while prepping the rest. Cut in half the butternut squash, remove the seeds and discard. Place the two half on a sheet pan and roast till fork tender, remove from oven and let cool enough to handle to spoon out the flesh. In the meantime, in a 6 quart sauce pan saute diced onions until sweated (limp but not browned) then add in the finely diced garlic (can be substituted with garlic powder - 1/2 teaspoon). Add Chicken stock to the saute pot along with butternut squash flesh, mushroom stems, ginger, parsley, salt & black pepper and simmer for 15 minutes on medium low heat.  Then turn off the heat, puree the soup and then add cream and Sambal. Taste for seasoning, keep in mind that heat (spice) intensifies as it sits and as the liquid cools a little. Great the first night served with crusty bread or even better the day after with homemade croutons. Freezes wonderfully so you can make a double batch and stash some for a lazy meal down the road.

Some of what I used