Butternut Squash Soup Recipe

 Holy hell it's October. How did that happen? 

Well, since we're here, let's get October started right with a nice cozy cool-weather dish, shall we?

This is my second attempt at this recipe (I wrote about the first one here), and I'm really happy with how it turned out this time. This recipe is made to our tastes. I added the parsley and thyme to add an extra dimension of flavor. It ended up pretty mild, but still very tasty. It was perfect after I added oyster crackers (this is how I feel about all soups, though). Feel free to play around with the flavor profile to make it to your tastes.

Ingredients

2 Tbsp butter

1 small onion, diced

1 stalk celery, diced

1 medium carrot, diced (I used baby carrots, since that's what I had, and ended up using about 24)

2 medium potatoes, cut into ~1" chunks

1 medium butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cubed (I used this tutorial)

1 (32 oz) container chicken stock

handful of fresh parsley, chopped (I ended up with about 2 Tbsp after chopping)

dash of thyme (maybe half a tsp)

milk (optional)

Directions:

1. Melt the butter in a large pot. Add the onion, celery, carrot, potatoes, and squash and cook for 5 minutes, or until lightly browned. 

2. Add enough of the chicken stock to cover vegetables. Add the parsley and thyme. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer 40 minutes, or until all vegetables are tender.

4. This is where it gets tricky. An immersion blender would be ideal here, but alas I do not have one (yet). If you have a blender, transfer the soup to it, and blend until smooth. I don't have one so I used my food processor instead. 

5. Return soup to the pot, and mix in any remaining stock to attain desired consistency. You could also add milk for a creamier consistency. Season with salt and pepper.

And that's it! From start to finish, this takes about an hour and a half. Cutting the squash is the most time-consuming part, so if you're making this on a weeknight I suggest prepping that the night or the weekend before, and storing it in a baggy in the fridge until you're ready for it. I also suggest baking the seeds, they taste just like pumpkin seeds! 

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Chicken Enchilada Soup Recipe

adapted from here

 This recipe is not your typical "throw ingredients into pot, walk out door" kind of crockpot recipe. It requires preparation of the sauce before you can combine everything in the pot. So while it's perfect for me-- I can prepare the sauce and throw everything together in the morning when I still have the motivation and energy-- it may not be the ideal crockpot recipe for working moms. But it would be perfect on the weekends, when you can prepare it and then go do something fun for a few hours, then come home to an already-cooked dinner!

Ingredients

3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
½ cup chicken broth
2 cups milk
1 can (15 ounce) black beans, rinsed and drained
1 can (14.5 ounce) Rotel diced tomatoes and jalapenos
2 tbsp taco seasoning
1 package (10 ounce) frozen corn
½ cup onion, chopped
½ cup bell pepper, diced
2 cans (10 ounce) Enchilada sauce
2 whole chicken breasts
1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese

Directions:

1. Melt butter in a saucepan over medium-low heat. Stir in flour; keep stirring until smooth and bubbly. Remove from heat and add the chicken broth and ½ cup of the milk, a little at a time, stirring to keep smooth. Return to heat. Bring sauce to a gentle boil. Cook, stirring constantly, until it thickens. In a large bowl, whisk together the enchilada sauce and chicken broth mixture . Gradually whisk in remaining milk until smooth. Whisk in taco seasoning until blended. Set aside.

 2. In a crockpot, combine drained beans, tomatoes, corn, onion, and bell pepper. Place the chicken breasts on top of the mixture. Pour sauce mixture over ingredients in cooker. Cover; cook on low heat for 6 to 8 hours or on high for 3 to 4 hours. When you are ready to serve, shred chicken (I use two forks; if you have a better method that doesn't involve removing the chicken I'd love to hear it) and give the whole thing a stir.

  Top with cheese and tortilla chips (like with chili and Fritos).

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Tortellini "Soup" Recipe

 I don't know why I have such a hard time naming my recipes. This recipe is soupier than a normal pasta dish, but not as soupy as a traditional soup, therefore "soup" is in quotation marks. Just go with it. A rose by any other name is still delicious.

Ingredients

1 pkg tortellini (I used Buitoni chicken and proschiutto)

1 pkg frozen yellow squash

1 can diced tomatoes

1/2 jar spaghetti sauce (I used roasted garlic)

Directions:

1. Prepare tortellini and squash according to package directions. Drain each of them and combine in the pot you boiled the tortellini in.

2. Add the can of diced tomatoes (juice included) and the half jar spaghetti sauce. Simmer until everything is warm. Serve with garlic bread to soak up the liquid (my favorite part). 

That's it! I don't know if this even really counts as a recipe, but it was quite tasty, if I do say so myself, and very fall-y too (noticing a theme this week?). Enjoy!

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