Carrot and Squash Soup- Yes It's Fall!

    The leaves are turning, the days are getting cooler, it's fall.  I am not a fan of fall, because it means winter is on it's way, and I hate winter.  Technically I do like fall.  The weather is really nice, the air smells very fallish (that sweet/ musty smell of the fallen leaves).  The fall colours are beautiful!  The fall makes me feel very Mother Earthish.  I just want to cook, and put by stores for the winter.

    One of my family's favourite fall dishes is Carrot and Squash Soup.  It's super easy, super healthy, and super yummy.  It is really tasty teamed up with a slice of fresh buttered bread.

    I usually use acorn squash and or butternut squash for my soup.  They are super hard to cut with a knife.  When I first started making this soup I would spend half an hour cutting the squash, and getting bruises on my palm from the back of the knife (from pushing down).  I then tried cutting the squash in half and putting it in a lasagna pan with water and cooking it for half an hour.  I have now settled upon the easiest and laziest way yet, I put the whole acorn in the oven for half an hour.  It comes out nice and soft, and really easy to peel.

    After I have cooked the squash in the oven for half an hour I peel them, clean the seeds out, and cut them.  I put the cut up squash (two squash worth of cut up squash) in a dutch oven with about 6 cut up carrots.  I then add add about 6 packages of chicken bullion (chicken broth would also work), and about half a teaspoon of salt and cook it for about half an hour, or until the carrots and squash are really soft.  The whole house smells amazing while this cooks.

    After the carrots and squash are cooked, let it cool.... trust me on this one (I have had a good few burns from being impatient, trust me on this one).  When it has cooled down, strain the mixture with a bowl under your strainer, you want to save the liquid.  Put the cooked carrots and squash into the blender.  Add some of the drained liquid to the carrots and squash.  If you want a chunky soup add less liquid, smooth, add more.  It took me three blenders full for my pot of soup.  On last blender batch I added milk instead of the liquid.  After the mixture is all blended, I add ground pepper to add to the taste.  You'll need to heat the soup up a bit, and then you are good to go.

    This is a really big hit at our house.  Christopher puts in requests for carrot and squash soup and my potato leek soup.  It just tastes like fall to me.  I like how easy it is, and I like how healthy it is.

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