Tis the season. Soup season that is. Nothing says home, more than coming in the house after a long day to smell a delicious aroma drifting from the kitchen. Knowing it’s healthy and satisfying makes it our family’s fall comfort food. After a season of raw vegetables, salads and fruits, it’s like putting on a wool sweater to warm your body.
I was inspired to make this soup when Harrison woke up feeling under the weather. He had had his braces tightened, was feeling headachy and on top of that, felt like a cold was on his doorstep. I knew I had to make something easy to chew and filling. I went out into the garden to be inspired and when I saw the butternut squash, gleaming in the sun amongst the dying vines, I thought PERFECT!
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| (I planted 6 butternut squash plants in an area that wasn’t ideal. I had pulled up yucca plants from this area and I didn’t get all the roots up so I had little yucca plants growing up all around my squash this summer….but despite the competition for water and sun, the squash prevailed. Sadly, we won’t have any to store for the winter as we LOVE squash and have eaten almost all of it. Next year, I’d like to plant twice the squash for our size family.) |
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| I probably focus on our 15 year old Harrison’s growing needs the most lately, since he literally grows a 1/8 of an inch every night. Okay, maybe that is an exaggerations. Let’s just say, his basketball coach is going to love seeing him this year! Anyway, I get worried when his braces are tightened as his food consumption drops a lot. |
Then I came inside to rummaged around the pantry (noticing that many of my bottles needed to be topped up and it’s generally disorganized….another blog post for sure) and found some ginger root. I had purchased the ginger to make some tea but had forgotten all about it. Another PERFECT ingredient. I also dug some boneless chicken thighs from the freezer and although this soup is lovely with just vegetables, I find adding some pieces of chicken and broth very satisfying, especially for our son who basically lives on smoothies for days after he has his braces tightened. If you are a vegetarian, of course please disregard the chicken aspect and use vegetable broth.
So without further ado, let’s get cooking.
Hope’s Butternut Squash and Ginger Soup
Ingredients
- 1 butternut squash (peeled, seeds removed, and cubed)
- (note, you can use 2 butternut squash instead of the carrots
- 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 4 large carrots
- 3 tbsp minced fresh ginger
- 3 tsp cinnamon
- 2 tsp nutmeg
- Salt and pepper
- 1 cup thinly sliced onion
- 3 large garlic cloves
- 1/8 cup brown sugar
- 1 lb chicken
- 8 cups chicken broth
- 2 cups cooked rice (I used a Basmati because Harrison loves that…but personally I prefer a nutty brown rice
- Chopped fresh parsley
- Sour Cream for a topping, (opt)
Directions:
Put the rice on and while it’s cooking;
Peel, the squash, remove the seeds and cube. Peel and chop the carrots. Mince the ginger, set aside 1 tbsp for later, and then crush 1 garlic clove.
Pour 2 tbsp of olive oil on a baking sheet and add the squash, the carrots, 1 crushed garlic clove, 2 tbsp of ginger, 2 tsp of cinnamon, 1 tsp of nutmeg and sprinkle with sea salt with freshly ground pepper. Coat all really well in the oil and put in the oven to roast at 375 degrees for 45 minutes.
If you are using chicken, you can cook it on a separate pan while the vegetables are roasting.
While the vegetables are roasting, heat 1 tbsp of olive oil in a pan, add 1 cup of chopped onion, 2 of the remaining garlic cloves (minced). Cook onions and garlic until translucent. Add 1 tbsp of minced ginger, 1 tsp of cinnamon, 1 tsp of nutmeg and 1/8 of a cup of brown sugar. Cook until carmelized.
Transfer the onion mixture to a soup pot, add the chicken and cook well until both are sizzling, add the chicken broth at this point. Bring to a boil, then add the rice and the roasted vegetables.
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| Add the chicken to the onions |
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| Add 8 cups of chicken broth…less if you want to puree it |
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| Add your roasted veggies and your rice |
The magic in this soup is layering all the seasonings, otherwise it will be bland. Finally, if you aren’t using chicken, if you wish, you can puree the soup in your food processor. I wanted our soup to have soft chunks for a filling main dinner soup. It would make a delightful fall soup prior to your entre. For our family, soup, salad, a rosemary dinner bun and old fashion rice pudding for dessert was perfect.
Ladle your soup into a bowl, add a sprig of parsley and a dollop of sour cream which is refreshing and a nice complement to the ginger. This is a warming soup full of flavour. Enjoy!
As if that wasn’t good enough….finish it off with some old fashion rice pudding. Oh my, talk about comfort food or WHAT!
This was the creamiest rice pudding ever! Harrison ate his portion and before bed he sat down to finish off the rest of the casserole dish.
I don’t know if it’s more enjoyable to eat all this wonderful homemade stuff or to hear my family’s contented sounds as they consume it.
This to me is one of the best parts of nurturing my children. Watching them appreciate food and grow.
If you are also interested in making the Rosemary dinner buns here is the recipe.
Rosemary Dinner Buns
Ingredients
*1 tbsp white sugar
*1 cup warm water
*1 package active dry yeast or 1 tbsp (I buy Red Star active dry yeast from Costco )
*1 tsp salt
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| Our rosemary plant next to the Kale |
Directions
- Dissolve the sugar in warm water in a medium bowl, and mix in the yeast. When yeast is bubbly, mix in salt, butter, 1 tablespoon rosemary, and Italian seasoning. Mix in 2 cups flour. Gradually add remaining flour to form a workable dough, and knead 10 to 12 minutes.
- Coat the inside of a large bowl with olive oil. Place dough in bowl, cover, and allow to rise 1 hour in a warm location.
- Punch down dough, and divide in half. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Lightly grease paper. Shape dough into 2 round loaves, and place on the baking sheet. I like to shape my dough into balls and put on a baking sheet. Sprinkle with remaining rosemary. Cover, and allow to rise 1 hour, or until doubled in size.
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
- Brush loaves with egg. Bake 15 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden brow
The Rosemary buns were such a nice flavour, next to the warming squash/ginger soup.
Finally, if you are a lover of Rice pudding, then you have to try this recipe. I actually had Harrison make it while I was making the soup and the buns. (he wasn’t feeling that bad) We have been working in the kitchen together for years. I like to encourage all of our children to help me in the kitchen from the time they are small. We like to make muffins, pancakes, cookies; things they are excited to eat.
Once they are around 11 or 12, I like to get them working on main dishes and of course teach them to cook the foods they love. Harrison was more than happy to make this dessert for this meal and ended up eating the majority, which was good since he hadn’t been eating much since visiting his orthodontist the day before. This is an excellent recipe to make if you have left over rice. I just made extra rice, when I made the Butternut Squash and Ginger soup.
Okay, get ready for comfort food extrordinaire……
Old Fashion Rice Pudding
* 3/4 cup uncooked white rice,
* 2 cups milk, divided
* 1/3 cup white sugar
* 1/4 tsp salt
* 1 egg beaten
* 2/3 cup raisins
* 1 tbsp butter
* 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
* 2 tsp cinnamon
* 1 tsp nutmeg
Directions
- Bring 1 1/2 cups water to a boil in a saucepan; stir rice into boiling water. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes.
- In a clean saucepan, combine 1 1/2 cups cooked rice, 1 1/2 cups milk, sugar and salt. Cook over medium heat until thick and creamy, 15 to 20 minutes. Stir in remaining 1/2 cup milk, beaten egg, and raisins; cook 2 minutes more, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir in butter and vanilla.
After cooking the rice pudding on the stove top, pour it into a casserole dish, sprinkle it with cinnamon and nutmeg, put a lid on top and put it in the oven at 300 degrees for 30 minutes or until it thickens. Pour into dishes with a little piece of mint on top. It’s a wonderful finish to this evenings meal.
We doubled the recipe for our gang but this is perfect if you have a family of 4, unless you love rice pudding. Then there is never enough!
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| Put in a fancy dish, add a sprig of mint and it looks like something from a restaurant |
I hope you try this delightful trio of recipes. Thanks for coming today, it’s always a pleasure having you in our kitchen.
Until we meet again, may you be well, happy and peaceful.
Blessings from Hope