Ingredients

• 1 yellow onion, chopped
• 1 rib of celery, chopped
• I carrot, chopped
• 1 Tbsp butter
• 1 butternut squash, peeled, seeds removed, chopped
• 1 tart green apple, peeled, cored, chopped (squash and apple should be at a 3 to 1 ratio)
• 3 cups chicken broth (or vegetable broth if vegetarian)*
• Pinches of nutmeg, cinnamon, salt and pepper

*If cooking gluten-free, use gluten-free broth.

Method
Combine butter, onion, celery, and carrot in large saucepan. Cook for 5 minutes. Add squash, apple, and broth. Bring to boil. Simmer for 10 minutes or until squash is soft. Puree. Add spices to taste.

Serves 4-6.

Hints
The apple doesn’t need to be tart. You can omit stuff in this recipe and totally replace it with another item. I had no nutmeg, so I put in honey and cinnamon and some other mealy apples I wanted to get used up in cooking. Peel the apples!

I also boiled the butternut squash first, then scraped the stuff into the soup, because I wasn’t going to wait an hour it seemed for that stuff to cook. I was too impatient.

I had it with some local bread from market, and a giant salad with black cherry tomatoes.

You can also probably replace the butternut with sweet potatoes. Same effect, only it’s sweet potato soup.

From Trish Woolbright