My own butternut squash soup recipe

With the garden winding down, it's time to pick squash! I love this time of year in the garden. The heat of the summer is just a memory and the hardest work is done. Tomatoes are ripening so slowly that I don't have to worry about keeping up with them, cucumbers can be pulled up without guilt now and the lettuce and radishes are crisp and waiting.

The vines on the winter squash are drooping and thinning in the cool nights. I'm finding squash that I didn't even see in the lush growth of summer. Acorns and butternuts are piled high in a box in the basement and it's time to eat them!

So... I went looking for butternut squash soup recipes and found tons of them, from simple to elaborate. After awhile, the sheer abundance of recipes for squash soup was confusing! After skimming through several that seemed to be similar, I decided to wing it. Here's what I came up with, after three attempts. It's so good that I had to stop myself from eating all of it.

One average butternut squash, roasted.
One half large onion, coarsely chopped
About four cups of chicken stock
A couple of tablespoons of butter.

Saute the onion in the butter and add the chicken stock. Let it simmer while you peel and chunk the squash. When the onion is tender, remove about half of it and set aside. Add the squash and heat through, then put it into your blender or use a potato masher to puree it. When it's all smooth, return to the pot and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes. Add the reserved onion back in, add salt and pepper to taste.

You could add crumbled bacon and/or chopped, cooked vegetables to it, but I like mine just the way it is.

You can freeze this for later, but don't attempt to can it. Like pureed pumpkin, it's not safe to do in a home kitchen.