Simple Fall Soup

This recipe is great for a weekend, or an evening where you have some time to spare. Get your cooking started, squash roasted, and pick out a favorite show, watch an episode, check on your soup during commercials and let the flavors build. There are not many steps, but this does take some time.

As I have mentioned before, I believe, variety is the spice of life and I am a firm believer of using what you have. The other day my husband wasn't feeling good, so I was headed to the store for ginger and some other things to help make him feel better. It was a crisp evening, so I wanted my dinner to have a fall feeling, I knew I had some carrots and vegetable broth at home, I knew I could use in a soup. I grabbed a delicata squash, because it was pretty and sweet potatoes to create that beautiful orange color, that to me means fall.

Once I got home I was thinking about the elements of pumpkin spice seasoning, the ingredients and its smell. So I wanted my soup to have a bit of sweetness. I started with coconut oil and cinnamon in the pan to get some of these flavors. After adding the chopped carrot and sweet potato I decided adding a small piece of ginger would add to this mix of sweet and spice. While this was happening I got my squash into the oven to roast simply with salt and pepper. As the flavors built in the pan I added broth, then let it simmer as the squash roasted. I also love seeds, so towards the end of cooking the squash I put some seeds from the squash on the pan with salt & pepper. I kept the seeds separate, but when everything else was all ready I let it cool a bit and blended it up.

To me, the presentation part is my favorite! So after I poured the blended soup into the bowl, I topped it with the squash seeds I roasted. Then a little dusting of cinnamon. Lastly I added a few drops, of a recent gift of, truffle olive oil. This soup is sweet and savory. I wanted to create this vegan, but a smooth goat cheese or salty hard cheese could be a nice accompaniment.

Simple Fall Soup Recipe

Ingredients:

1 tsp Coconut Oil

1/2 tsp Cinnamon

1 cup of Carrots

2 Sweet Potatoes

1 Delicata Squash

1 small piece Ginger

2 cups Vegetable Broth

Salt & pepper to your tasting

Ideas for toppings:

Pumpkin or squash seeds

Cinnamon

Truffle Olive Oil or Olive Oil

Dollar of Goat cheese or thin slices of your favorite cheese

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees

2. Chop squash in half and scoop out seeds. Separate seeds from flesh to roast later.*

3. Peel carrots, ginger and sweet potatoes. Chop all into bite sized pieces.

4. In a pot on medium heat, put coconut oil, cinnamon, chopped carrots, ginger and sweet potatoes. Season with salt & pepper to your tasting. Cook for 3-5 minutes, letting the vegetables in the pan soften.

5. Add vegetable brooth to the pan. Allow this all to simmer until the roasted squash is complete.

6. Once oven is preheated put squash on a pan with the inside facing upward. Cook for 20-25 minutes. They are done when you can easily put a fork through them.

7. Let the squash and items in pan cool, so you can blend them. If you have an immersion blender you can blend in the pot.

8. Serve and top with toppings of your choice: seeds, seasons, oil, & cheese

*Roasted Seeds:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees

2. Make sure there is no flesh from the squash on the seeds.

3. Dry the seeds off.

4. Place seeds on tin foil.

5. Drizzle to coat with olive oil. Season with salt and pepper.

6. Roast for 10 minutes. If they are not golden, roast for 2-5 more minutes.

*You can recreate this with any squash you like. I would suggest acorn or butternut squash, they have a similar sweetness.

I hope you enjoy this vegan recipe. It is easy to make and delicious to eat. Enjoy!