Cooking for One: Butternut Squash Apple Soup

About a year ago, I had gotten some butternut squash apple soup from Panera Bread and absolutely loved it! I'm not a big fan of butternut squash, but it had sounded interesting so I tried it (and I'm glad I did!). So this year, when I went to look for it, they only had plain butternut squash soup. (Oh, the tragedy!) So I decided to try to make it myself. It turned out pretty good for a first try!


Recipe: (makes 6 servings)
1 bag frozen cubed butternut squash (approximately 2.5 cups)
2 cups apples, cored and diced (peeling optional)
3 cups water (divided)
1 tablespoon dried rosemary
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 onion, chopped
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup brown sugar (optional)
1/2 cup light cream


Melt butter in a large saucepan. Saute onions until translucent. Add butternut squash and cover with water (approximately 2 cups) and bring to a boil. Once boiling, add apples, rosemary (in a cheesecloth or tea strainer), and more water to cover if needed. Turn the heat down to low and simmer for about half an hour until the squash and apples are fork tender. Turn off heat. Remove the rosemary and puree the mixture using an immersion blender. (If you don't have an immersion blender, you can puree it in batches in a blender but be careful because it's hot!)



Now is the time to taste test your soup (I prefer to taste my soup before I add the cream to it, if you'd prefer, you can season after the cream instead). Does it need salt or pepper? Were the apples you used sweet enough? If not you might want to add the brown sugar. The soup is just that, soup. It shouldn't be sweet like a dessert but it should have a little sweetness to it. If you're satisfied with the taste of the soup, add your cream and blend again. Taste again and add more seasonings if needed.

I served my soup with L'oven Fresh Sweet Multi-Grain Rolls. It made a great match!

This soup freezes well.  I made it and kept 2 servings out and froze the other 4 servings for later. To reheat, bring the soup to room temperature in the refrigerator (approximately 24 hours). Cook in microwave on high 2-4 minutes (stirring at the end of each minute).  You can also reheat on the stove over medium heat.

Nutritional Information (soup only):

• Servings Per Recipe: 6
• Amount Per Serving
• Calories: 156.2

• Total Fat: 6.0 g
• Cholesterol: 18.4 mg
• Sodium: 18.7 mg
• Total Carbs: 29.8 g
• Dietary Fiber: 4.1 g
• Protein: 1.6 g