Butternut Squash Soup

I've made this soup twice already since the leaves started changing colors. It's a great standby for dinner parties or to have in the frig and eat for a week (we've done both recently). Also, if you don't use chicken stock, it's vegan!

Ingredients:
1 large butternut squash
3 medium yellow onions
3 large cloves of garlic, chopped fine
1 qt veggie or chicken stock
1/3 cup olive oil
Thyme (fresh or dry)
1 large bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
Salt and pepper

Peel and chop yellow onions. (I usually blend this soup at the end, so the size of chopped veggies does not really matter. If you are not going to blend the soup it would be best if you chop everything small and uniform.) Place the onions in large stock pot with olive oil and saute on medium until the onions are transparent, not browned. Add garlic and 1 teaspoon of thyme, 1 tablespoon of salt, and some fresh ground pepper. Cook about 2 minutes longer.

While your onions are sauteing, halve and peel the squash. (It is easier to peel when cut in half or even quarters.) Use a sharp potato peeler and remove the tough skin. Scoop out seeds and chop into desired size pieces. Add to the onions and garlic. Pour in enough stock and water to cover the squash plus about an inch, add bay leaf. Cover the soup and bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer on low for 30 minutes.

Once the squash is completely cooked, you can turn off heat and season or prep for blending.

If you choose to blend the soup, make sure you chill it for a while. (Blending hot liquid in a blender creates a HUGE mess. The steam tries to escape and sprays soup everywhere.) I usually ladle the soup into two 9x13 pans and place in the frig for an hour or two.

Once you've blended the soup and put it back in the stock pot you can season the soup with more salt, pepper, thyme and nutmeg.

Yummy!


Variations:
-Use sage or rosemary instead of thyme
-Add some curry powder instead of nutmeg
-I added two other kinds of squash last time and it was still wonderful! I had two delicato squash and 1 acorn squash. I had to halve and bake the acorn squash while the soup was cooking. When it was cooked all the way through, I scooped out the flesh and added it to the soup for the last 5 minutes.
-Put some unsweetened whipped cream on top