Happy almost end of October everyone! WOW! Where has this summer gone? I have kind of been a little MIA over here but don’t worry; I am not gone completely. This summer flew by, and even September has as well, last time I checked I thought it was July! This past summer, I spent a lot of it working, and I had some cool opportunities that I could not say no too. But now it is time to slow down, and set some goals and reset.

Recently, I had a project to do, and it involved squash, and guess what? Winter Squash is in season! I want to share everything I learned about winter squash with you and share a soup I made using the leftovers from that project. This project led me to get a super cool job at a local company here in Vancouver. The company encompasses everything that I strive to do and what I value as important in my world of food and for the environment. If you want to read my first ever, published on another site but this one blog post. Squash your winter blues here!

I came up with this recipe to use up the leftovers from the mini photo shoot I did. Not only was it’s super hearty, but it is also vegan, and without the bread on the side, it can be gluten-free too. I supplied a few people with some leftovers, and they said it was the best soup I have ever made!

I used dried white beans because my friend recently moved across Canada, and I inherited her dried bean collection. If I were to make this on the regular, I would continue to use dried beans as it is our goal to continue to create less waste and we can bring our clean containers to BULK BARN and refill when necessary.

Beans also create a creamy consistency and are loaded folate, vitamin B1 (thiamin), potassium, magnesium, and iron.

4 Squash Soup

Ingredients

• An assortment of Winter squash ( 1 butternut, ½ acorn, ¼ Kabocha and 1 deletca)
• 2 heads of garlic
• 1 cup roughly chopped carrots
• 1 large cooking onion
• 1 cup white beans (dried or canned to save time)
• 2 cups of water (to rehydrate the beans)
• 3 cups plus more vegetable broth
• Rosemary
• Thyme
• Salt and Pepper

Method

1. If you are using dried white beans, rehydrate at room temperature the night before or bring them to a boil while you are preparing the rest of the dish.
2. Preheat the oven to 375C
3. Prepare your squash, cut them in half and take the seeds out and leaving the skins on. Place them on a cooking sheet. Take the two heads of garlic and cut off the tops and add to the mix. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Place in the oven and cook until soft
4. Once the squash is cooked, let cool.
5. In a deep pot over medium heat, heat olive oil, sauté the onions until translucent. Add the carrots and cook until soft.
6. Using a spoon, scoop out the insides of the squash and place into the pot
7. Drain and rinse the beans and add them to the pot
8. Add the three cups of vegetable broth and rosemary and thyme sprigs and bring the pot to a simmer for about 30 min
9. After simmering for a bit, fish out the rosemary and thyme sprigs and using an immersion blender or a blender and blend until smooth. If needed add water or any vegetable broth you may have. Taste and season as necessary.
10. Serve and garnish with your fav garnish.