Homemade Butternut Squash Soup with Homemade Chx Stock!!

Let me preface this post by saying that I don't like squash.  At all.  Here's my story of how I came to love this butternut squash soup recipe:

It was late at night.  My husband was finishing a sermon for the next morning when I quietly approached him with a steaming teacup.  I'd brought him soup.  I'd stayed up to make this experimental soup because if it was a failure, I was going to have to find a plan 'B' for after church the next day.  My husband (a guy who, if ever won the lottery, would simply grin with triangulated eyebrows and say, "Wow.") took one bite of my latest experiment and said, "Wow, this is awesome.  I mean this is REALLY good.  Can the twins have this?"  I nodded.  "Wow.  Can I have some more?"  *tear*  After he tried it, I decided to brave a taste myself.  I'd only had a small sip to taste for saltiness.  I was SHOCKED.  Even I, the squash-hater, loved it!  SUCCESS!!!  The next morning I discovered he had posted THIS on Facebook:

Gillian just brought me the best soup I have ever had. She made a butternut squash soup absolutely from scratch - from the chicken stock to roasted squash. INCREDIBLE!!!

He made my heart soar.  I love that man. 

In an earlier post I mentioned that I hate cookbooks, but I LOVE the Internet!  Especially www.allrecipes.com .  You can enter ingredients you want AND ingredients that you DON'T want.  And it's HUGE.  You can find pretty much anything.  That's where found THIS squash soup recipe:

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/butternut-squash-soup-ii/detail.aspx

I also LOVE Facebook, or, more specifically, I love my friends and the extra connection FB gives us.  My friends have been vital in this journey of cooking.  This recipe calls for chicken stock, and not long ago chx stock was a "dark cloud" food.  I'd checked many grocery store shelves and found NONE that I trusted for my guys.  Through Facebook, I stumbled across a conversation with a friend who shared with me how to make chicken stock!  I think she saw one of my posts about how I save the drippings from chx in ice cube trays and use them to flavor vegetables instead of butter?  I don't know.  But the end result of our connection through Facebook is that she told me how to make and store chicken stock! 

CHX STOCK: after you've cooked a whole chicken or a lot of chicken pieces, strip off the meat, then throw the skin and bones into the slow cooker with 6-8 cups of water.  Throw in a few carrots, a stock or two of celery, and an onion (just rough-cut the veggies since they're just for flavor and not for eating), season with salt, pepper, and garlic powder (just sprinkle an even layer of each on top) and cook on low overnight.  Next morning, strain the stock into a bowl, throw out the veggies (so sad!) and let the stock cool in the fridge.  Once cool, skim off the now-waxy layer of fat, then put in freezer containers!  So easy. 

The original soup recipe calls for dicing a raw butternut squash.  If you've ever worked with butternut squash, you know what a pain in the rear it is to try cut when it's raw.  So I read the comments under the soup and someone recommended roasting it first.  When I was making baby food for the twins, one friend directed me to this site: http://wholesomebabyfood.momtastic.com/ .   It has AWESOME instructions for basic peparation for a variety of foods - including butternut squash!  Just look under "Vegetables."

However, just like with cookbooks, every recipe I find needs doctoring.  Here is the orginal recipe with my alternatives in caps.  ALL CREDIT GOES TO THE ORIGINAL SOURCE!!  I just doctored it for our family:

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons butter (OLIVE OIL)
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 stalk celery, chopped
• 1 medium carrot, chopped
• 2 medium potatoes, cubed
• 1 medium butternut squash - peeled, seeded, and cubed
• 1 (32 fluid ounce) container chicken stock (I USED A 3 CUP CONTAINER OF HOMEMADE STOCK FROM MY FREEZER)
• salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Directions

     FIRST START ROASTING THE BUTTERNUT SQUASH.  CUT IT IN HALF LENGTH-WISE, THEN PUT IT FACE DOWN IN A BAKING PAN.  ADD 1/2"-1" WATER TO THE PAN, AND ROAST OPEN-SIDE-DOWN IN THE PAN AT 400 FOR 40 MINS.  THE SKIN WILL BE BUBBLED AND FORK-TENDER WHEN IT'S DONE.  TO CUT OUT THE SQUASH, I MAKE A GRID OF SQUARES CUTTING TO JUST SHY OF THE SKIN, THEN SCOOP IT OUT.  THE CHUNKS ARE ALREADY MADE!  WHILE THE SQUASH ROASTS, PREPARE THE SOUP PER ALLRECIPE'S INSTRUCTIONS (my additions are in CAPS):

1. Melt the butter (HEAT OLIVE OIL) in a large pot, and cook the onion, celery, carrot, potatoes, and squash 5 minutes, or until lightly browned (THE BROWN BITS THAT STICK TO THE PAN ARE KEY TO THE FLAVOR OF THE SOUP). Pour in enough of the chicken stock to cover vegetables (I SLID MY MOSTLY STILL FROZEN STOCK INTO THE POT AND IT MELTED/THAWED QUICKLY). Bring to a boil. (ADD SQUASH WHEN ITS DONE!) Reduce heat to low, cover pot, and simmer 40 minutes, or until all vegetables are tender.               
2. Transfer the soup to a blender, and blend until smooth (I USED A CUISINART SMARTSTICK AND PUREED IT IN THE POT.  BE CAREFUL!!! IT'S HOT HOT HOT). Return to pot, and mix in any remaining stock to attain desired consistency. Season with salt and pepper.

SOOO YUMMY! 

As with most of my experiments, there always has to be a downside - SOMEthing has to go wrong.  I was HOPING this soup would have some leftovers, but alas it only made it through one meal for the six of us.  Next time - double recipe.

Normally my experiments don't turn out, so I didn't take pictures.  I guess if I'm going to blog about this adventure, I should start taking pictures and posting whether or not it works out.  NEXT TIME!