By Renee Martinez
When squash is in season, I always make a batch of butternut squash soup. I freeze what is leftover, in 2-3 serving portions, and pull them out for a quick meal whenever I have a craving for it. Butternut squash soup is jam-packed with nutritious goodies and fiber which makes it a great soup for your kids to enjoy – not to mention it looks and tastes almost like a dessert.
This is a great recipe from Our Best Bites. You may adjust the seasonings according to your family’s taste; I sometimes reduce the amount of garlic and cayenne pepper/hot sauce when I cook for very little kiddos.
Butternut Squash Soup
Recipe by Our Best Bites
1/2 T olive oil
1 T butter
1/2 C sliced carrots (abt 1 med carrot or 12 baby ones)
2 stalks celery, diced
1 C diced onion
4 large garlic cloves, minced
1 medium butternut squash, (abt 4 cups diced)
1 medium potato, diced (about 2 C diced)
32 oz chicken broth (that’s one box/carton)
1 T brown sugar
1 1/2 t kosher salt
3/4 t dried sage
1 pinch cayenne pepper or a douse of hot sauce
In a large stock pot, heat olive oil and butter. When butter is melted add onions, carrots, celery, and garlic.
Saute for 2-3 minutes, or until onion is tender. Add the squash.
Add the potato, sage, salt, cayenne pepper/hot sauce, and chicken broth. Bring to a boil and then turn down to a simmer. Simmer with the lid on for 30-40 minutes or until everything is tender. Check a piece of squash and also a piece of celery and potato to make sure they area fork tender. Stir in 1 T brown sugar.
Use an immersion blender, or transfer soup to a regular blender and puree until smooth.
Serve with your choice of butternut squash soup topping. I like to top mine with a drizzle of heavy cream and some chopped, crystallized ginger. Enjoy!
About the Author: Renee Martinez consults and speaks professionally on social media marketing, integrated marketing communications, public relations and branding. She is the president of Ruby Marketing Communications (www.rubymarcom.com), a boutique marketing communications company that specializes in providing branding, social media strategy and integration, and creative services. Her blog (www.lisac95.sg-host.com), provides resources on everything marketing and social media for her active audience.
Renee has contributed as a featured monthly columnist in the monthly jewelry industry publication, JCK on matters related to internet marketing as well as in InStore Magazine as a featured blogger where she writes about developing effective marketing strategies for the jewelry industry using social media. She is the founder of: Social Media Biz Summit (www.socialmediabizsummit.com), the first large-scale SM conference to come to Buffalo, NY; #jewelrychat, a weekly twitter chat for the jewelry industry and www.RaisingBoysWorld.com. Renee teaches social marketing courses at Canisius College in Buffalo, NY for the business school as well as offers small group social media marketing training and educational seminars for businesses in Western New York and beyond.
Renee has dabbled in internet marketing arena since the early 90′s and is not ashamed to call herself a “marketing geek”. From chatting in AOL, “sharing” music on Napster, and teaching HTML classes before it was considered “cool” to developing comprehensive social media strategies, effective public relations campaigns and managing online communities (most recently Chevy Girls Buffalo).
She enjoys being able to help people find their voice online and to create buzz about their product or service that will give them the results they desire.
Renee can be found on Twitter (@reneemmartinez) and Facebook (http:/www.facebook.com/RubyMarCom).
