Butternut Squash Soup - Two Ways

With Christmas behind us, I've been keeping a keen eye on some "healthier" food choices.  I don't know about you, but I damn near slipped into a food coma after everything I ate during the whole of Christmas week.  And if you must know, yes; I ate A LOT of my own cookies!  But don't worry, everyone that was supposed to receive them first did.  The biggest offenders were those damn Cookie Balls.  I just couldn't stop eating them!  Bad, bad Cookie Balls (tsk, tsk)!

That said, I've made an effort to eliminate (however temporarily) processed foods.  That means I've had to cook a bit again.  I am trying to keep it simple, though - at least for now.

So that brings me to the recipe at hand, Butternut Squash Soup.  I'm going to post two different recipes I use.  The first is vegan, using no dairy.  The second uses dairy. (And by the way, the photo below is not mine... I forgot to snap some shots of it before posting).

VEGAN BUTTERNUT SQUASH SOUP

INGREDIENTS:

3 1/2 - 4 cups of butternut squash (using either fresh & cubed or frozen)
1 cup vegetable broth (or more if you like a thinner soup)
1 cup coconut milk
1/2 medium sweet onion
1 tbl olive oil
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cayenne
1/4 tsp black pepper

DIRECTIONS:

Slice the onion and saute in a small pan with the olive oil for about 10 minutes.

Add the onions, olive oil and all remaining ingredients into a slow cooker for about 5-6 hours.

Place the contents into a blender (or use an immersion blender) and puree until smooth.

If thinner soup is desired, add an additional cup of vegetable broth and/or coconut milk.

Recipe yields 6 cups, 90 calories per serving.


(NON-VEGAN) BUTTERNUT SQUASH SOUP

For those of you who prefer to add dairy to their butternut squash soup, there are only a few minor changes...

INGREDIENTS:

3 1/2 - 4 cups of butternut squash (using either fresh & cubed or frozen)
1 cup vegetable broth (or more if you like a thinner soup)
1 cup milk
3 oz. cream cheese
1/2 medium sweet onion
1 tbl butter
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cayenne
1/4 tsp black pepper


PERSONAL NOTES:

I prefer to use pumpkin pie spice instead of individual spices like nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon, etc... Please feel free to alter the recipe to suit your preferences.  Start here and try a mouthful.  Maybe you like more of one spice and less of another and so on. It's really pretty adaptable.  It's my favorite soup to make.  It's easy, healthy (the vegan version at least), and filling.  Perfect too for the winter months.