Crockpot Butternut Squash Soup

I checked a new cookbook out at the library a few days ago and immediately marked a bunch of recipes to try. Tonight I decided to go with this one because I had all the ingredients on hand, including a butternut squash sitting on the counter needing to be used. As always, the peeling/chopping part of making soup with a lot of veggies takes some time, but I've always found the taste to be worth it in the end.

I altered this recipe as it was written just a bit because I wanted a heartier soup, to see the original version snag your own copy of The Everything Vegan Slow Cooker Cookbook.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 medium butternut squash, peeled and cubed
• 4 small russet potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 3 large carrots, peeled and sliced
• 4 celery stalks, sliced
• 5 cups organic vegetable broth
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt (I used Himalayan pink salt, but regular table salt would be fine)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Add all of the ingredients to a 4 quart slow cooker. Cover and cook on low heat for six hours.

Doesn't get much easier than that! Though there was actually another step... just in case you like your soup pureed you can let this cool, remove the bay leaf, then process in a blender until smooth. I like chunks though so I skipped that. 

                

Now, I've never eaten or prepared a squash, so this was all new to me. I had a heck of a time peeling that sucker (partly due to my arthritis, I just couldn't keep hold of it) but also because I have a crappy knife and that skin is TOUGH! I really need to invest in at least one good knife!

If my oven wasn't broken right now I might have roasted my veggies before throwing them all in the crockpot.

In the end I found the finished soup to be rather bland (which I kind of guessed it might be when I looked at the ingredients list, but I'm not super experienced when it comes to spices just yet so I didn't feel confident enough to experiment). If I were to make it again I'd definitely spice it up quite a bit more. As it was, I added a bit of garlic powder and black pepper to our bowls which helped boost the flavor a little. Though this wasn't my favorite soup ever (probably the least so, actually) the leftovers won't be wasted. I'm considering adding some brown rice and maybe some white beans tomorrow when I eat it for lunch.

I'm also planning another first with this squash, and that's roasting the seeds! I've always wanted to roast pumpkin seeds after we carved out jack-o-lanterns, but I never knew how to do it so I just tossed all those icky gooey innards. This time I looked up the instructions/recipe and I'm all over it (borrowing my sisters oven since mine won't be fixed until later this week).

P.S. If you're one of the possibly three clueless people in the universe who knows nothing about butternut squash like me, I found this link extremely helpful: All About Butternut Squash via The Shiksa in the Kitchen