Butternut Squash Soup

Have you ever had butternut squash??  Well, up until about 2 months ago I never had.   Now - I'm in love with it.  It's sweet and kinda nutty, and you can prepare it so many ways.  In fact, last week instead of making my pumpkin cheesecake that my husband loves so much, I substituted butternut squash and he had no clue.  If you love pumpkin, you'll love butternut squash.   However, you won't find butternut squash in a can, like you will pumpkin.

Anyway - so since I'm into making my own soups these days, what better soup to make than butternut squash soup.

Again, I took a recipe I found and tweaked it to my needs.

Ingredients

• 1 cup chopped onion
• 2 garlic cloves (chopped)
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 6 cups peeled and cubed butternut squash (I used one large squash)
• 6 cups fat free, low sodium chicken broth
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper (I used more)
• 1 tsp ground sage
• 1 granny smith apple, peeled and sliced
• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese 
• 4 stalks celery (chopped)
• 4 large carrots (chopped)
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

• In a large saucepan, saute onions in butter until tender, then add garlic
• Add celery and carrots, squash, apple, chicken broth, salt, pepper, sage and cayenne pepper. Bring to boil; cook 20 minutes, or until squash is tender.
• Puree squash/soup mixture and cream cheese in a blender or food processor (I use a blender because I dont have a food processor yet)  in batches until smooth. Return to saucepan, but make sure the burner is off.  There is no need to keep cooking.
• Top with a dollop of sour cream!  Enjoy!

 Makes 10 - 1 cup servings

203 Calories, 20 carbs and 5 grams of protein per serving.

Let me know if you try it, and how you like it!!   I'm off to the gym!  Have a great Sunday everyone!