Around this time of year I get a hankering for soups and stews. Nice cold weather foods! The trouble is that winter in Toronto is... well... from an Alberta perspective, frankly disappointing. For weeks, there was not only no snow but the grass was still frostily green. The temperature stayed around 10 degrees during the day and I felt like buying industrial winter boots last year was probably a huge waste of money.

So, to cheer myself up, I decided to make an old favourite of mine, Squash Soup. I first made this soup the very first time I had the BF over for dinner.

Squash Soup

Olive oil

1 large white onion, chopped
4-5 stalks celery, chopped
1 lb carrots, peeled and chopped (I usually use leftover baby carrots)
2 tsp garlic, minced (I just buy the pre-minced stuff in a jar)
1 large butternut OR 2 acorn squash (~2lbs), peeled and chopped
½ cup orange juice
2 tsp cumin

Water
Salt to taste

In a large pot, heat about 2 TBSP oil over medium heat.
Add onion, celery and carrots. Cook until onions are clear. (~10 minutes)
Add garlic and continue cooking for another 2 minutes.
Add remain ingredients (squash through cumin). Stir together.
Add enough water to just cover all the vegetables. (You can add stock to this instead, if you want, but I think it’s flavorful enough without.)
Bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer, cover, and cook for 30 – 40 minutes or until the carrots and squash are soft.
Using either an emersion blender or ladling out the soup into a regular blender, batch by batch, puree the soup.
(If using the regular blender, pour your pureed soup back into your pot.) Add water to thin your soup if necessary. Bring soup back up to a simmer. Add salt to taste.
Serve with green onion and pepper. Serves 6.