Meatless Monday: Curried Squash-Apple Soup

I woke up yesterday feeling the start of a cold and by last night I was a mess!  Sore throat, runny nose, cough, head congestion....I had it all!  So, when planning the menu for the week yesterday I thought soup would be a good meal.  Now, I'm not normally a soup person.  Soup is nice as an appetizer but I'm not big on soup as a meal.  It's usually not filling enough to satisfy me. I thought that this soup with some biscuits or muffins would make a nice meal though since I wasn't feeling well.  Most of the time spent on this recipe was the chopping of the vegetables. By pre-chopping the squash, onions, and celery the night before I think that this could easily be made for a weeknight meal.  The apples will turn brown if prechopped, so I'd probably hold off on pre-chopping those.  You can even buy pre-packaged chopped butternut squash at the store, if you're willing to pay almost double the price of regular squash (which I wasn't willing to do.....although I HATE chopping butternut squash for fear one of my fingers will be chopped with it!). I only used 1/2 of a jalapeno pepper and it definitely added a little kick to the soup.  Too much that I knew the kids wouldn't eat it, so they got chicken noodle soup. While the veggies simmered on the stove, I made the biscuits shown in the next post.  Even with me not feeling well, this was a pretty easy meal to make. 

Curried Squash-Apple Soup
Recipe adapted from Cooking Light, September 2001

Ingredients:
1 1/2 teaspoons olive oil
1/2 cup chopped onion
3 3/4 cups (1/2-inch) cubed peeled butternut squash
3 3/4 cups chopped Golden Delicious apple (about 1 1/2 pounds)
2 3/4 cups water
1/4 cup coarsely chopped celery
2 1/4 teaspoons curry powder
1/2 jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped
1 chicken-flavored bouillon cube

Directions:
1.  Heat oil in large saucepan over medium-high heat.  Add onion, cook 5 minutes or until soft.  Add squash and remaining ingredients; cover and simmer 30 minutes or until squash is tender.
2. Place half of squash mixture in a blender, and process until smooth.  Pour pureed soup into a large bowl; repeat procedure with remaining squash mixture.

Mommy & Daddy rating: 1 1/2 thumbs up.