Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

Simple things are usually the best. You can spend hours on a recipe, going to different grocery stores and specialty food markets to buy unique ingredients, but often times it's the things we make with what we have on hand that taste perfect.

This soup comes together in the blink of an eye, and most of the ingredients are things you'll likely already have in your fridge or pantry. It will quickly become a family favourite.

Squash is one of my reliable friends in the fall and winter. It's a standard vegetable, but when you vary the cooking methods and ingredients, your end result is full of interesting new flavours.

For this creamy soup, squash butternut squash gets roasted and onions and garlic become caramelized. There is no dairy in this puréed soup. The roasting brings out such rich flavours that you wouldn't want to mess with. No lack of flavour here.

No lack of vitamin A either. One serving of this soup has a whopping 298% of your daily intake!

I kid not...golden, buttery flavoured squash is infusded into every spoonful. 

And to top it all off? My pumpkin pie spice roasted pumpkin seeds.

Now this is comfort food! So simple. So good. Perfect before/or after a night of trick or treating.

Roasted Butternut Squash Soup gluten free, vegetarian, vegan option | makes about 6 cups

Print or email this recipe

Ingredients:

• 1 large butternut squash, peeled and seeds removed, roughly chopped
• 1 large Spanish yellow onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 4 cups no sodium added chicken stock (or vegetable stock)
• 1 tsp grated nutmeg
• sea salt and pepper to taste
• pumpkin spice roasted pumpkin seeds for garnish 

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 400˚F.
2. In a large bowl, toss the squash and onions with olive oil, minced garlic, salt and pepper. Line a baking tray with parchment paper and empty the bowl out, making sure the veggies are in an even layer. Roast for 30 minutes, stirring halfway through, until veggies are tender and golden brown. 
3. Transfer the roasted squash and onions to a large pot; add the chicken stock and nutmeg. Simmer for 25-30 minutes.
4. Purée the soup using an immersion blender or working in batches with a blender or food processor until you have a silk smooth soup. Careful it is pipping hot! Adjust seasonings to taste.
5. To serve, ladle into bowls and top with 1-2 tbsp pumpkin spice roasted pumpkin seeds.

Nutrition Information (with 2 tbsp pumpkin seeds)

Serving Size: about 1 1/2 cups Calories: 166 Fat: 7g Saturated Fat: 1g Cholesterol: 0mg Carbohydrates: 23g Sugar: 4.8g Sodium: 67mg Fiber: 4g Protein: 5.2g

Happy Halloween!

Peanut Butter Cups

Can we all agree that peanut butter cups are the king of candy?

Be still my heart.

Halloween is right around the corner so there's no better time to make these.

Many of the recipes I have seen either use a ton of powdered sugar or graham crumbs to thicken + sweeten the peanut butter filling. While that's okay as a treat, I really wanted to make the perfect peanut butter cup without all the added sugar.

To make the peanut butter filling I added coconut oil to natural peanut butter. Since coconut oil is solid at room temperature it keeps the peanut butter from being too runny. But if you don't like the taste of it, or, are allergic, you can use regular butter instead or none at all.

I opted to use a combination of dark and milk chocolate, and chose to use an unsalted natural peanut butter so that I had the option to add a pinch of sea salt if the filling needed it. Sometimes that little bit of salt is all you need to round out the flavours just perfectly, especially when we're talking chocolate.

These can be made vegan or gluten free by using dairy-free or certified gluten-free chocolate such as Enjoy Life chocolate. Their mega chunks are my favourite to use.

When there are peanut butter cups, its a happy halloween for sure!

Peanut Butter Cups gluten free, vegan | makes 12

Print or email this recipe

Ingredients:

• 1 cup semi sweet chocolate, vegan if needed
• 1 cup dark chocolate, vegan if needed
• 1/4 cup creamy natural peanut butter
• 1 1/2 tsp organic cane sugar (or sucanat/coconut sugar)
• 1 tbsp coconut oil (or regular butter)
• 1/8 tsp sea salt

Directions:

1. Line a mini-muffin tin with paper liners; set aside.
2. Melt the chocolates in a small bowl set over - not in - a small pot of simmering water. Stir until melted and smooth. Remove from heat.
3. Spoon about 1 tablespoon of the melted chocolate into the bottom of each muffin liner. Tap the pan gently on the counter to smooth out the surface. Refrigerate the tin until the chocolate begins to set; about 10-15 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, combine the peanut butter, sugar, coconut oil, and sea salt if using, in a small bowl and stir until smooth and creamy. Spoon one teaspoon of the peanut butter filling on top of the hardened chocolate. Place in the freezer for 5-10 minutes to set.
5. Return the remaining chocolate to sit over the simmering pot of water and stir until smooth. Then top each cup with the melted chocolate, making sure the filling is completely covered.
6. Refrigerate until set; about 30 minutes.

*Tip*

• These are best if stored in the refrigerator in an airtight container. They can also be frozen. If you leave them out a white film that sometimes appears on chocolate will form after a few days. The reason for this is because the chocolate was just melted and not tempered. Store them in the fridge for up to 3 weeks. If you are freezing them they should last about 2 months.
• If you want a more classic tasting peanut butter cup I recommend using all milk chocolate.