I got creative with the soup action this week. I wanted to make a simple butternut squash soup, and headed over to Trader Joe's to buy a bag of pre-cut butternut squash. I love how TJ's will cube and package in a handy bag those hard to cut veggies like squash. The hardest part of cutting up a whole squash for me is skinning it. I lose patience and end up driving to Trader Joe's. On this day though, I found something new...
I get to TJs and they do not have any butternut squash. I am crushed because my mouth had been watering for butternut for a couple days now. Instead, TJs had this Fresh Harvest Medley which contained a mix of yam, butternut squash, and turnip. It looked interesting so I thought I'd give it a try since there was at least some chunks of my favorite butternut squash in there. I'm glad I tried it!
The creamy twist
I love cream based soups but because of the dairy allergy, I have had to be creative and simulate the experience of creamy soup without it actually having cream in it...or more specific cow milk cream. I have however found another cream that is vegan, gluten-free, tasty, and will create a creamy like experience. That is what I mean by a twist because you will hardly see this ingredient in a soup recipe...yet. Oh yeah! I think more people will be trying it out, says the trend predictor in me.
Also, I've discovered like many others who cook vegan or dairy-free that with the right amount of boiling, pureeing, and liquid, you can whip almost anything up into a frenzy until it's creamy. If you've ever owned a Vita-Mix blender, you know what I'm talking about.
5-ingredient or less dishes are in the trend now so this soup fits right in this mix with 4-ingredients. In fact, you could make this soup with 3-ingredients but the 4th is one of my favorites because I like things on the sweeter side. Also, there is no cutting involved. All you need is a can opener and food processor or blender.
Ingredients (serves 4 medium size bowls):
1-package Trader Joe's Fresh Harvest Medley
- 1-14oz. can organic chicken broth or vegetable broth to make the soup vegan. I use Whole Foods 365 brand broth.
- 1/4 cup So Delicious Coconut Milk Creamer (this stuff has some thickness and it rocks for all kinds of things besides coffee! I used the French Vanilla flavor, but there is also Original and Hazelnut.)
- 1/2 tbsp agave nectar
- sea salt to season (I don't consider salt an ingredient because you don't really need it if you get salted broth. I did however use a pinch.)
Let's get cooking:
- In a medium saucepan, boil the Harvest Medley together with the can of broth for 25-30 minutes. Add a pinch of salt in if you'd like more salt than what the broth has already. The squash should mush when you press a spoon to it. If it's disintegrating in the pan into a gooey mush, the Medley has been over-cooked.
- Let the heated Medley cool down for about 20 minutes in the pan. Pour the mixture into a food processor or blender, add in the coconut creamer, and agave nectar. I added a 1/4 cup of water to thin out the soup a bit. Whip into a frenzy until the mixture is creamy.
- Taste. Season according to your palate if the soup needs more.
There will only be a whisper of coconut taste in the soup. If you add about 1/8 cup more of the coconut creamer, you will start to taste the coconut which could be interesting if you want a Thai-like flavoring to your squash soup. I tried it and thought it would make for an interesting starter if you were doing a Fusion themed lunch or dinner party. The French Vanilla flavoring and agave add a subtle sweetness to the soup because I added just a small amount.
I've been really loving the So Delicious line of coconut-milk products because they've done an excellent job of minimizing the coconut taste which can be over-powering.
Enjoy the soup!
