Butternut Squash and Red Pepper Soup

My friend, Kate, gave me this recipe a few weeks ago and I put off making it until I could find some red peppers at a decent price.   That finally happened this past week and I am so glad!  This Butternut Squash and Red Pepper Soup is truly one of the most flavorful soups I have met in some time… no exotic spices… curries, cumin… or even herbs.  Just good wholesome ingredients that are chock full of wonderful taste in themselves.

It just might be the best Butternut Squash soup EVER!

I do hope you will give it a try.  Kate has adapted the recipe from one she from a woman she works with, and we don’t know where that one came from originally.  I wish I could take credit for it.

I do know that Kate has been experimenting with the ingredients a bit, as have I so I will share how I made it up… but don’t be afraid to add some tomatoes, or roast your veggies before adding them to the soup pot.  That is an extra step, but even more delicious I am sure!  And if you like, double the ingredients and make a huge batch.

I weighed the ingredients I used, for accuracy sake, but don’t worry about that if you are not counting calories or Weight Watchers Points Plus.  And by all means, use your own homemade broth if you like, or even a veggie broth if you are not a meat eater.

Butternut Squash and Red Pepper Soup
Makes 10 one-cup servings

• 1 Tbs coconut oil
• 1 large white onion (16 ounces)
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1 medium butternut squash (44 ounces)
• 3 medium red peppers (14 ounces)
• 4 cups chicken broth
• Dashes of salt and red pepper flakes to taste
• Dash of black pepper

1. Coarsely chop the onion.
2. Peel, smash, and mince the garlic cloves.
3. Seed the peppers and cut into chunks.
4. Peel and seed the squash and then cut  into 1" cubes.
5. Melt the coconut oil in a large soup pot over MEDIUM heat. 
6. Add the onion and garlic, and cook, stirring occasionally until softened, about 5-10 minutes. 
7. Add squash cubes and red pepper chunks and then pour in broth. 
8. Cover and increase heat to HIGH until the broth comes to a boil. 
9. Reduce heat to LOW and gently simmer stirring occasionally, until squash and peppers are very tender, about 40 – 45  minutes. 
10. Remove from heat and let cool.
11. Blend cooled soup with hand/immersion blender until as smooth as  you like. 
12. Taste and season with salt and red pepper flakes.
13. Reheat before serving.
14. Garnish with freshly ground black pepper.

Per serving.
Weight Watchers P+ = 3.
Calories 103; Protein 3g; Carbohydrate 22g; Fat 2g; Fibre 4g.

Printable Recipe

Veggies in the pot… aren’t they beautiful?

Starting the puree… see the bits of red pepper still to be mixed in?

Serving it up!  Just look how thick it is. Mmmm.

What is your favorite homemade soup?

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving

This weekend is Canadian Thanksgiving!  Our holiday is on Monday, October 14th… and all across the country, Canadians will be sitting down to traditional turkey dinners.  Oh yes, I know, that some celebrate with other special meals, but most commonly, we think of turkey and pumpkin pie at this time of year!

Most of us will celebrate the traditional holiday on Sunday or Monday… and everyone who enjoys the beauty of our land, and the privileges that being Canadian affords, will truly have something for which to be thankful.  Here is one of my recent favorite moments….

This is my sister and brother-in-law from Calgary (why yes he is a cowboy) with The Captain and me, just about to enjoy a ride in carriage drawn by Betty, who is a 23 year old Belgian mare. It was so much fun. 

I have lots of recipes on the blog about turkey dinners, and various dressings, and some cranberry sauces, and pumpkin desserts so if you are interested, here are only a few links.

• 2012 Gluten-Free Turkey Dinner featuring a Quino Stove-top Dressing
• Tangy Orange Cranberry Sauce
• Cranberry-Apple Sauce
• No-Bake Pumpkin Fluff Pie, Crustless Pumpkin Pie
• Pumpkin Butter
• Pumpkin Spice Latte

Happy Thanksgiving to all my Canadian friends and family

What are you giving Thanks for today?

Pumpkin Protein Paleo Cookies

One day this past week, The Captain announced that one of our local markets was selling canned pumpkin puree for 87 cents per can and that he was planning to pick some up for me the next morning while I was at work.

I was sure they wouldn’t have any left by the time he got there, but when he arrived to drive me home after my noontime Weight Watchers meeting, he quite proudly gave me the news that he had bought 2 cases…. 24 cans of pure pumpkin puree! 

So what am I going to do with it all?  Well, there will be pumpkin pancakes, and pumpkin souffles, pumpkin smoothies, and of course I had to come up with some pumpkin cookies!

These are not your ordinary sweet, dessert cookies, though.  These are cookies that I am going to keep in the freezer and have them pre-workout in the morning. I like to have a little nibble of something nutritious before I do my strength workout in the morning and this will fill that bill quite nicely… but they also do taste great! 

They are not too sweet but if you want a treat, they are certainly that as well.  I have been experimenting for months now with almond flour cookies, and these are pretty good.

I used liquid vanilla Stevia as my sweetener. If you use plain Stevia, or a powdered sweetener such as Splenda, add a spoonful of vanilla extract, too.  And you can use any kind of nuts you like.  I thought pecans would taste good with the pumpkin and they sure do!

Pumpkin Protein Paleo Cookies
Makes 35 cookies

• 1 can (15 oz.) pumpkin pure pumpkin puree
• 2 eggs
• 1 dropper liquid vanilla Stevia
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans
• 2 cups almond flour
• 4 level scoops vanilla protein powder
• 1 Tbs coconut flour
• 3 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp cloves
• 2 dashes allspice

1. Preheat your oven to 350° F.
2. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
3. In a large mixing bowl, combine the almond flour, protein powder, coconut flour and spices.
4. Mix in the raisins and pecans.
5. In a smaller bowl, whisk together the eggs, pumpkin, and Stevia.  Then add the mixture to the dry ingredients.
6. Combine well.
7. Using a 1Tbs measure, scoop the batter into mounds on the parchment paper and bake for 14 minutes.
8. Remove the cookies from the sheet and leave on a cooling rack for several minutes to let them set.  They will be quite soft till they cool a bit.
9. Repeat #7 and #8 with the remaining batter.

Per serving of 1 cookie.
Weight Watchers P+ = 2.
Calories 85; Protein 5g; Carbohydrate 6g; Fat 5g; Fibre 2g.

You don’t need to leave much room between the mounds as they don’t spread much when baking.

Printable Recipe

What do you like to eat before you work out?