Panera Bread Autumn Squash Soup Recipe

 

As you go further into your diet, and add more and more vegetables, it is time to arm yourself with as many recipes for vegetables as possible, because these are the items which will fill you up on this diet.  You cannot ignore vegetables.  With meats, they will take center stage.  So even though my son has been on this diet for over 5 months, we still only have about 6-7 vegetables we rotate through, and one can get tired of them quickly if there isn't variety.  Again, don't ignore vegetables.  You might have often made them a few times a week when you had time.  Now, you must serve them at least with lunch and dinner to feel full.  So get friendly with vegetables!

This soup freezes well in serving sizes.  So if you have extra, don't forget to freeze and heat up for a quick lunch or as a vegetable for dinner.

Ingredients

• 1 extra large or large butternut squash
• 1 large onion
• 2-3 tbsp. extra virgin coconut oil
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 1 15-oz. can Libby’s Pumpkin (I used homemade pumpkin puree)
• 1 ½ cups apple juice
• 1 ½ cups vegetable broth (I have used homemade chicken or beef bone broth)
• 1 ½ cups half-and-half  ( I have used coconut milk in a can or almond milk)
• 1 ½ tbsp. honey
• ¼ tsp. muchi curry powder
• ½ tsp. cinnamon
• 1 ½ tsp. kosher salt
• ¼ tsp. black pepper
• roasted pumpkin seeds for garnish

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 450°.
2. Peel squash.
3. Remove seeds and cut in chunks.
4. Chop onion into large chunks.
5. Place in baking dish or on cookie sheet and drizzle with oil.
6. Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper.
7. Bake at 450° for 25-30 minutes or until fork tender.
8. Mash squash with a potato masher and place in a large stock pot. Or place in stock pot with liquids and use an immersion blender to puree squash.
9. Add pumpkin, apple juice, half-and-half (or almond or coconut milk) and vegetable, beef or chicken broth.
10. Puree ingredients with an immersion blender until well mixed.
11. Add honey, curry, cinnamon, salt and pepper and heat through about 10-15 minutes at a low simmer.
12. To serve, garnish bowls of soup with roasted pumpkin seeds.

Notes

Adjust the apple juice, vegetable broth and half-and-half according to how large your butternut squash is. If the squash is smaller, decrease liquids. If it’s a whopper you may have to increase this amount. I increased these amounts above the original recipe because I had a whopper butternut squash.