When I was routing through my freezer for lunch today, I had completely forgot that I had already planned to make soup for dinner. I debated making something else, but with a bare fridge and no $$ I decided to stick with my original plan. I like soup, so having it twice in one day does not bother me. ๐
My soup was inspired by what I found at my grocery store this weekend…
A precut & gutted butternut squash! This was perfect for me because A) I don’t have to worry about cutting it and B) I don’t have to worry about having a zillion butternut squash left overs! Publix had other random squashes that were precut so I will have to look into that for next week.
After all of the great butternut squash recipes I saw last week in the secret ingredient contest, I knew I had plenty of great recipes to try this squash on. WIth consideration of what I already had on my fridge I decided to give Lauren’s Spicy Butternut Squash Soup a try.
I altered the recipe so it only produced two servings and substituted ingredients with what I had on hand.
Here is my version of Lauren’s creation:
- 1/4 Butternut Squash
- 1 Small Sweet Potato
- 4 Carrot Sticks
- 1/2 Yellow Onion
- 1 Garlic Clove
- 1/2 cup Okra ( I told you I would be putting it in everything)
- 1/2 cup Shredded Summer Squash (also trying to use up)
- 3/4 can of Vegtable broth
- 1/2 cup Fat Free Milk
- S & P
- Cumin
- Oregano
- 1/2 chicken breast
- Gorgonzola Cheese (for topping)
I followed her directions from there. I added the milk when I added the vegtable broth and only let it simmer for 10 minutes before I took the hand blender to it. I added the chicken to the soup after the hand blender and I topped the individual bowl of soup with the gorgonzola cheese. This really produced two perfect serving sizes.
On the side of the soup I had a piece of Whole Wheat Toast, which I used to wipe the bowl clean. ๐
You like my half toasted piece of toast? This bread has a hard time fitting in my tiny toaster. Oh well, it works!
The soup was awesome! I really am a HUGE fan of butternut squash now and I am excited that I have the other half of butternut squash in the fridge waiting to be made into butternut squash fries. ๐ Thank you Lauren for posting a great recipe!
After my dinner I decided to experiment with my Pumpkin Bars for dessert.
I cut one in half and slathered Peanut Butter on one half and Low Sugar Strawberry Preserves on the other.
I was really craving something fruity which is why I chose the preserves, but ever since Erin suggested the peanut butter on the bar, it has been on the back of my head to give it a try. Let me tell you, Erin is a GENIUS! The Peanut Butter on top made the bars AMAZING!!! But doesn’t peanut butter make all desserts amazing?!? I am definitely feeling better about these bars now. Thanks for the suggestion Erin!
This afternoon I had a serving of Kashi Vegetable Roasted Crackers and a Laughing Cow Cheese Wedge for my afternoon snack.
I picked these crackers up for FREE thanks to my Kashi Coupons. It was my first time trying the vegetable crackers and I must say I really enjoyed them. I liked the extra flavor these crackers had and look forward to future enjoyments.
I have dishes waiting for me in the kitchen. ๐ I guess I have put them off long enough. Good night everyone!
They started selling pre-cut butternut squash like that at Whole Foods as well – score!! ๐
Lovin’ the soup and PBJ-topped pumpkin bar!!
Good luck doing the dishes, and enjoy your evening!!
I sure wish I had a store that had the squash all ready to go for me like that. The soup looks great!
Yum! PB and pumpkin!
Mm that soup looks very yummy!
PB not only makes dessert better, it makes EVERYTHING better!
I love the Kashi Vegetable crackers, they have a little bit of a kick to them which is always fun ๐
Hope you have a great night!
Your soup looks super good! ๐
Cutting squash is so hard! That’s a fantastic find ๐ I think I spent about 20 minutes cutting my spaghetti squash in half tonight.
Good night!
You’re right, I am a genius! I’m so joking. Thanks for the blog love, and I’m so glad the PB helped! ๐
Your soup looks great!
that soup looks fabulous!! i’ll need to look for those at publix.. maybe i won’t be so afraid to buy a butternut since i won’t have to commit to a whole one ๐
peanut butter makes ANYTHING taste better…
have a great day!
love all the eats and that bar w/ the pb sounds amazing! so jealous!
Yay! I am so glad you made the soup and enjoyed it! I love all the extras you put in it, especially the gorgonzola on top – yummmm. ๐
I need to try those Kashi crackers!
Your bowl is so pretty! Mind if I ask where you got it?
The bowl came with a set my mom gave me for christmas a few years ago. I am a snowflake FANATIC so these stay in the kitchen year around. ๐
Hey Meghann, thanks for answering my question! Your mom has good taste! Good idea to keep them in the kitchen year round – that way you can admire the pretty snowflakes all the time ๐
Have a great night!
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