(Slightly) Spicy Butternut Squash and White Bean Soup

Happy Tuesday! Well as promised here is the amazing soup recipe.

Serves 4 to 6. Cooking time – 45 minutes.

Mirepoix

 

1 c. chopped onion
1/2  c. chopped celery
1/2  c. chopped carrot

 

2 T. olive oil

1 t. chopped garlic

1 bay leaf

1 t. cumin

1 t. dried thyme

1/2 t. smoked paprika

1/4 to 1/2 t. chipotle pepper*

1 small to medium butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cut into chunks

1 pint of chicken stock

Black pepper to taste

1 can of white beans (I use Trader Joe's Cannellini beans)

Sauté Mirepoix and garlic in olive oil until veggies are translucent. Add remaining spices, stir for about 2 minutes. Add stock and squash, cook till tender (approximately 30-45 minutes). Break up squash into bite-sized pieces, add white beans, serve when fully heated through.

We like our soup with a hearty whole-wheat bread on the side. We buy ours from the Costco bakery – it's a wonderful, chunky bread, high

in fiber and flavor. We buy about 8 loaves at a time and freeze them.

*Yeah, this soup has a tiny kick to it – a tiny one. But my husband and I love spicy food and we're raising our kids to like a little heat, too. Whole milk is great for cooling the tongue, and they've learned to take a slug of milk, or a bite of bread, if the heat becomes too much for them. We keep things on the mild side, but I like that my kids, at 8 and 4, are learning to eat from a variety of ethnicities, flavors, and textures. And if they don't finish it – no big deal. It's about exposing them to new things, not about them loving it every single time.

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