Butternut Squash Soup

At Thanksgiving, my Mom makes the most delicious butternut squash soup. To make it, she uses a Williams & Sonoma starter jar of squash puree. This fall when I took a look at the ingredients I was very saddened to find wheat flour on the list. That's when I started researching all of my favorite Thanksgiving items and figured that I should get crackin on new recipes in order to help my Mom prepare for our first G-free Thanksgiving.

So, I started with the soup. My gluten-free mentor has been Shauna James Ahern aka "The Gluten Free Girl." She is an amazing writer and photographer which unfortunately I am neither. But everyone needs someone to aspire to right? For the butternut squash soup I used a recipe from her blog.

Soup turned out delicious with every essence of fall...my apartment smelled amazing. One thing that I should probably tell you right now. This is a blog about food and for the most part about healthy eating. This is not a blog about losing weight or new years resolutions. This blog is about enjoying all foods "in moderation" to soothe the body and mind. Thanks to my Mom, I am a food purist who enjoys all foods even butter and cream!

A couple notes that I took while making this recipe are listed below (something I'll try to do for all recipes of others that I try):
1. Kosher Salt: Use it! So much better for you than iodized salt. You can find it at any grocery store.
2. Olive Oil: I used extra virgin, but I will admit I have a lot to learn in this category.
3. Spanish smoked Paprika: Warning...this is hard to find in the store! I found it in a little white and blue tin on the bottom shelf at Whole Foods in the spice section. Ask an employee to help you find it.
4. White Onion: These will makes your eyes cry more than any other onion. Do half an onion, then take a breather, then finish with the second half. If you don't know how to dice an onion, Shauna has a video posted on her blog which is great.
5. Wine: I'm not exactly sure what "dry" white wine is, but use a wine that you would want to drink. I like Sauvignon Blanc, so I used the 1/2 cup for the recipe and drank a glass while I cooked.
6. Cream: Typically you are not going to find just "cream" in the grocery, it's called heavy whipping cream. You only need 1/2 cup (4 oz) so buy a 8oz small container and use the rest for whip cream & berries. Put the extra cream in blender and whip on high for a couple minutes and gradually add some sugar and a drop of vanilla. Blend until you get soft peaks and your done!
7. Squash: The first time I try a recipe I always follow it exactly the first time. Don't do this...spend the extra $2 bucks and buy the pre-cut squash at Whole Foods rather than cutting and peeling a whole one. My squash could have been a little more ripe. How do you know when a squash is ripe? No idea! If you do buy pre-cut, you will need to reduce your roasting time to 20 minutes.
8. Vegetables: I found it took at least 15 minutes to sweat the veggies in the pot.
9. Herbs: During that step I let them cook for about a minute or two. My apartment had so much smell going on already i couldn't tell when the "smell" changed.
10. Stock: In order to cover the veggies by one inch, you need a 32oz container. Please use organic stock (check label to ensure it is gluten-free).
11. Pureeing the soup: Instead of transferring the soup a millions times, I used an immersion blender (also called hand blender) to puree. Since this soup is super chunky, do not miss the step of staining the soup (which I did, not a good idea).
12. Finish the soup. I didn't get too crazy with it and buy creme fraiche (which is delicious but a container just for me is a little silly)...but I did garnish with an extra sage leaf left over. See the photo above...the finished product!

Good Luck!