Butternut Squash and Sweet Potato Soup

So, apologies for the blog hiatus.  Between the holidays, the National Championship game and Vegas, there wasn't much cooking going on up in our kitchen.  However, this will be a multiblog week so really, try and contain yourselves.  Onto the grub.

For those that don't know me, I'm a carnivore of the highest order.  The few entries I've made were chalk full of meaty goodness.  Every now and then I feel the need to get away from that and bring some veggies into the mix (its rare, but it does happen).  So when I filled out our Greenling order this week I grabbed way too many butternut squashi, some sweet potatoes (a regular in our box) and a few yukon gold potatoes and went to town.

1 lb butternut squash
1 lb sweet potatoes
2 small yukon potatoes
1 small onion
6 cups chicken broth
1 tbsp minced ginger

This was a pretty easy recipe, but most of the work was turning this:

into this:

One workout at Gregory Gym this afternoon, the second in the Huebner Kitchen dicing up all that fun.  The rest went by quickly.  Throw the onions in with some olive oil in a large soup dish for about five minutes until tender.  Then add the ginger, sit back and enjoy the smell (but only for 1 minute):

 

Then in goes the rest of the veggie goodness (and chicken broth).  Turn the heat up to get it simmering then cover and turn it down to medium for 45 minutes or until the ingredients are soft enough to blend.  Use a blender and smooth everything out into an even consistency (left ours with some small chunks) and then put it back on the heat for another 15 minutes or so while you put together this super easy salad:

lettuce
sliced pears
blue cheese
chopped walnuts

dressing:
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp apple vinegar
1 tbsp dijon mustard
1 tsp lemon juice

throw it all together and here's what makes the wife smile: