Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

If you frequent a Smith's or a Kroger, you may have noticed the little orange stickers that pop up occasionally. They say 'Manager's Special' in big bold letters and display the new, discounted price. Items go on manager's special for lots of different reasons: clearance, new packaging, the product is no longer carried. The most frequent reason, it seems, is that the item is getting near its expiration date.

The Ma loves the thrill of the shopping hunt, rooting around til she finds a good deal, getting something that everybody else would pass over for an amazing price and turning it into something spectacular. She's out of her mind in love with manager's specials. They've done all the hard work for her. All the best deals are clearly marked with a big, orange, easily identifiable sticker. Ma quite often makes dinners with nothing but manger's specials.

The other day she came home proudly bearing manager's special, chunked butternut squash. Our favorite way to eat butternut squash is roasted with butter and brown sugar, but she wanted to do something funky with it. Like make soup.

While the Ma has been feeling brave recently and has found herself a few recipes all on her lonesome, she still prefers giving that task to me. "Find me a recipe containing these three ingredients that can be done in less than an hour and will fulfill this delicious meal idea!" Luckily, on this particular trip she found so many manager's specials she didn't have time to think about the butternut squash for at least two more dinners (a little nervous making when you consider that it was on manager's special because it was nearly too old to be eaten, but none of us have died yet from eating it so I think it turned out okay). That gave me the time I needed to hunt for oodles of recipes, compare them with one another, and then pick and choose the parts of the recipes I liked, leaving behind those I didn't.

I was disappointed at first in my search for butternut squash soup. Butternut is a winter squash which apparently means that when turned into soup it ought to taste like Christmas. I love Christmas as much as the next girl, but I've never been a fan of the traditional Christmas flavors: nutmeg and cinnamon and allspice all rolled together so everything tastes like a pumpkin pie. Not to be swayed by the early signs of defeat, I dug til I found some different spice combinations I thought would be delicious.

Best. Soup. Ever.

Really. At least the best creamy, winter squash soup that has ever come out of this kitchen. Plus, it is easy peasy. This is becoming a staple on my fall menu. No longer will I suffer from having more butternut squash in the garden than a girl knows what do do with.

And who knows. This might just be enough to keep me from shaking my head the next time the Ma sets out with a happy giggle to hunt down some manager's specials.


Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

5 cups chunked butternut squash
1/2 medium onion, rough chopped in large pieces (I cut mine into six pieces)
2-3 tbsp olive oil
1 8oz package of cream cheese
3 cups water
4 cubes bouillon
1/4 tsp dried marjoram
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1/8 tsp ground cayenne pepper

1. Preheat oven to 350*. Dump squash and onion chunks in an oven safe sauce pan and drizzle with olive oil. Stir to coat each piece. Roast in the oven for about 45 minutes. Squash should be cooked through. You can check doneness  by inserting a knife. If the squash is cooked, a butter knife will slip easily into the squash flesh.

2. Puree Squash and onions in a blender (I suppose you could use a food processor for this but I think those things are a booger to clean) til all the chunks are gone. Add the cream cheese and puree until it takes on a smooth, even consistency. Return to the sauce pan.

3. Dissolve bouillon in hot water. Add bouillon water, marjoram, black pepper, and cayenne pepper to the squash mixture in the sauce pan. Warm over medium heat. Do not boil.

4. Bust out the previously purchased, crusty bread and delicious sweet cream butter. Dig in.

PS I only used chunked butternut squash because it was on manager special. The easiest way to roast butternut squash is to cut it in half from top to bottom, scoop out the seeds, and throw that puppy in the oven. No chunking, just halving. Coat the onions with olive oil and drizzle olive oil on top of the squash halves. Scoop it out of the skin and into the blender for pureeing.