Easy Butternut Squash Soup

While at Trader Joe's the other week, I saw that the squashes were $1.79 each.  So I'm looking to find the biggest squash since it's not by the pound.  A nice employee helped me.  She exclaimed, "I think I FOUND IT!!"

Most good-sized butternut squashes are about 2.5 lbs.  Well, mine was 7 lbs!!!  WOW..

People would see the squash in my cart and comment on how huge it was. (I actually didn't take a photo of it before chopping it up.)

Now, cutting off the ends/skin, scooping out the seeds, and chopping it into smaller pieces was such a chore.  It took 45+ min just to do that.  The gigantic butternut squash produced tons of flesh to the point where I had to change pots because it was overflowing.

Easy Butternut Squash
Prep Time: 30 min      Cook Time: 35 min
(But obviously my prep time was doubled due to the 7 lb squash)

Ingredients:
3 lbs butternut squash, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
3 cloves of garlic
2 cups chicken broth (1 can)
water, enough to cover veggies (about 6 cups)
1 Tbsp salt
2 Tbsp sugar
1/2 cup heavy cream

Combine all ingredients except for the heavy cream.  Cook covered on medium heat for 35 minutes.  You may need to cook it longer if the veggies are not tender by then.

Pour the soup mixture into a food processor or blender.  Mine didn't fit so I had to do it in batches.  I poured the soup mixture in with a little heavy cream at a time.  Then blended it.  Once I finished my puree, I would dump it into a pot.  When you have a whole pot of pureed soup, heat it through on medium heat.

This soup is tasty, packed with vitamins; it'll warm you up on a cold, winter day.

Enjoy!!