simple remedy

It's been a long couple of weeks for us. And just when we thought that things couldn't get more stressful, they did, today. On top of that, today we had to wave goodbye to the lovely autumn days that we had enjoyed so much. A winter storm is moving in, and we got a little taste of almost-snow tonight, when we were getting into the car after shopping for some moving boxes.

As soon as we got home, Mark said that it would be nice to have some kind of soup for dinner tonight. And just the idea of having warm meal made me forget about all the stress for a few moments. So I got out of the fridge a bowl of cut up butternut squash and started mixing spices together. I'll be honest here, I cubed it almost a week ago, intending to make a soup with it, but things got too crazy and I didn't get a chance to revisit the idea until tonight. When I finally poured the soup into our bowls and had the first taste of it, I knew this was the perfect dinner for a night like tonight. It was soup therapy at it's best.

I have to note, I normally don't like squash. The sweetness of it just doesn't sit right with me. So when I was making the soup, I didn't add any sugar (which I know is quite common when cooking squash), and tried to make sure the soup was salty with a hint of sweetness from the squash and coconut milk. If you like it more sweet, add some kind of sweetener to your taste :)

A Piece of Sunshine on a Stormy Night (a.k.a. curried coconut butternut squash soup)

EV olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
2-4 cloves of garlic, minced
2 tsp. minced ginger

3-4 medium bay leaves
2 tsp. curry powder
1/2 tsp. ground cumin (optional)
1 tsp. ground coriander (optional)
1/2 tsp. garam masala (optional)

1 butternut squash, peeled, seeded, cubed (about 2-3 lbs)
3/4 c water
1 can coconut milk
salt to taste

red pepper flakes and chopped parsley for garnish


Cook chopped onion in olive oil on until it starts getting some color. Add minced garlic and ginger and cook for another minute. Add curry, bay leaf and any other spices listed above, if you have them on hand. Cook, stirring frequently for about 30 seconds, add butternut squash, salt, water, and coconut milk, stir well, cover and let simmer for about 30 minutes or until squash is tender.

Once squash is cooked, pour everything into a blender and blend to desired consistency. You can also use immersion blender right in the pot, but I never tried it, so I don't know what consistency you can achieve with it. Pour the soup into a bowl and sprinkle with hot pepper flakes and freshly chopped parsley. Enjoy!