TINY Kitchen Homemade Butternut Squash Soup

Frankly, I really have never had any idea what to do with butternut squash. But it's September, and that means this weird lil' gourd is popping up everywhere and suddenly everyone else in the world seems to be celebrating it, so I decided to dig in.

We love a good homemade soup in this house, so after careful consideration, I decided our butternut squash adventure would be that of the pureed kind. I also didn't want to spend a ton of time on this one, since I didn't know if I would love it or not, so this is a quick recipe as well (you're welcome). Now, I must caution that don't own a fancy immersion blender, so I created a recipe light enough that I could actually craft it in my blender (also time saving). Net, net -- this is fancy food prepped in a really non-fancy way. Pretty typical in this here TINY Kitchen.

After some light reading, I gathered enough tips and tricks from other soup lovers to decide exactly the flavor profile I wanted for this yummy dish. Admittedly, I did a lot of seasoning to taste as I cooked (and I would encourage EVERYONE to do that with each and every dish!), but it turned out great and we'll definitely be adding this to our fall rotation.

INGREDIENTS

3 cups butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cubed (CHEAT: They sell it that way at Trader Joe's!)

2 red delicious apples, peeled and chopped

1/3 cup yellow onion, diced

1 small clove garlic, peeled and crushed

1 tbs coconut or olive oil

1 1/4 cup chicken broth

1/2 cup almond milk

1/4 cup flour (you can also use almond flour if you like!)

1/5 tsp thyme

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp nutmeg

maple syrup to taste

DIRECTIONS

Steam the squash and apples for about 20 min or until soft
While they steam, sauté the onion and garlic in your coconut or olive oil until the onion is translucent
Add all of your remaining ingredients (broth, milk, flour, spices) except the maple syrup into the blender, and blend 3-4 minutes until the mixture thickens and is smooth
Add your softened apples, squash, onions and garlic
Blend until smooth (about 1 min)
Return to the (now empty) steam pot on the stove
This is where it gets fun: we taste and season! Take a taste - what does it need? More savory-ness: add garlic salt and pepper. More sweet: add some nutmeg.
Once it's perfect, serve in a bowl and drizzle maple syrup on top
OPTIONAL: sprinkle shredded dry parmesan and crushed almonds on top for a tasty topping