ThrivingMama: Freezer Friday: Slow Cooker Butternut Squash Cream Soup

Friday, October 30, 2009

Freezer Friday: Slow Cooker Butternut Squash Cream Soup

It has been great this week to be back in the kitchen! With three of my four fall craft fairs a thing of the past, I had some time to play in the kitchen. We were recently gifted with two lovely butternut squashes from a friend’s garden. They had graced the window sill in the kitchen for almost two weeks so it was time to do something with them. I used this recipe for inspiration, and ended up with a slow cooker soup that we’ve also used as a sauce over pasta – it’s that thick and rich! You may want to add more liquid depending on your preference for thick cream soups. I’ve also filed this under baby food because our 9 month old LOVED this stuff – she ate 3 bowls worth of soup mixed with rice cereal! It is definitely GBaby approved! I made this in a 5 quart slow cooker, so if yours is smaller you may need to adjust this recipe.

Slow Cooker Butternut Squash Cream Soup/Sauce

Ingredients:

16 cups chopped Butternut Squash (2 large squashes)

6-8 cups Water (to thin soup to your preference after blending)

6 Vegetable Bullion Cubes

¾ teaspoon Nutmeg

1 teaspoon Marjoram

1 ½ teaspoons Black Pepper

1 teaspoon Salt (may want to taste before adding as bullion can make soup salty)

2-8oz packages Cream Cheese

Directions:

Peel, gut and chop butternut squash.

Combine all 6 cups of water and remaining ingredients except cream cheese into your slow cooker, turn it on low and leave it for 6-8 hours or until the squash is thoroughly cooked. It can be cooked on high if you need to shorten the cooking time.

When preparing to eat, dollop cream cheese on top of the ingredients in the crock pot and leave them to soften.

Once cream cheese has warmed and is melting, blend soup with an immersion blender right in the slow cooker. If you don’t have an immersion blender, blend cooled soup VERY CAREFULLY in a standard mixer. Add more water to thin to suit your preference.