Soup is probably my husband’s favourite thing to eat, ever. If I made soup (or stew for that matter) every day for the rest of our lives, he would be thrilled. Talk about simple pleasures eh? Luckily I love soup too – for many reasons! I get chilled easily, and when I get chilled, there’s no recovering without a hot cup of something. Soup absolutely fits that bill! More importantly, soup is an incredibly easy way to get a TON of nutrients into your body at once. Have you ever noticed that if you were to take a huge salad and cook it down for a few minutes, the volume dramatically reduces? Well soup takes it even further – you can jam gazillions of nutrients into each bite by throwing in all sorts of veggies, seasoning it with fresh herbs and using homemade broth. Why homemade broth you ask? Well it is a magic elixir that cures everything. Stay tuned for a post on exactly what allows me to make that claim, (UPDATE: check out my post on Bone Broth here) and in the meantime, go ahead and check out this one instead! To sum it up in a few words:
Bone broth heals joints, repairs the digestive tract, protects our cardiovascular system, encourages healthy skin and nails, and is a concentrated source of minerals required for every system in the body.
Since the last few weeks have been incredibly stressful for us (good stressful! We launched Beatty Naturopathic!), I have been doing everything possible to get as many nutrients in us as we can. And since stress causes leaky gut, I’ve been eating soup daily to keep my gut locked up tight to protect my body! So far it seems to be working – neither of us have gotten sick!
I have a variety of soups that I make, but I always come back to this simple favourite: Thai Butternut Squash Soup. Rich and creamy, this nourishing soup makes a fabulous snack or meal. I often eat it for breakfast! As always, I’m using my favourite brand of Thai ingredients:
Aroy D
Their curry pastes are one of a kind. Perfectly clean ingredients – no additives, stabilizers or unnecessary junk. I’ve gone on and on about their coconut milk before, but I’ll say it again: there’s no other brand that compares! With only 2 ingredients (coconut milk and water) it has the best flavour and zero gut irritants!
Bonus: this recipe can be made vegan if you use a veggie broth instead of the (magical elixir) bone broth!
- 1 cup onion, chopped (approx 1 large or 2-3 small)
- 12 cups butternut squash in cubes (1 large or 2 small)
- 2 tbsp cooking fat (lard, coconut oil, duck fat)
- 4 cups of broth
- 2-3 tbsp Aroy D red curry paste (as per desired spiciness)
- **see notes for nightshade free option**
- sea salt
- black pepper
- filtered water
- 4 cups Aroy D coconut milk
- fresh cilantro (optional)
- In a large pot over medium heat, sautee onions in cooking fat until translucent - approx. 5 mins
- Add squash cubes, broth, salt, pepper and curry paste. Stir to combine.
- Top up with filtered water until the squash is just covered in liquid.
- Simmer for 20-25 minutes.
- Puree using an immersion blender. Or carefully transfer portions to your blender.
- Stir in coconut milk and heat through.
- Serve topped with fresh cilantro.
- You can use any curry paste in this recipe - green and golden both work great!
- Nightshade free? Omit curry paste, add in 1 stalk of lemongrass while simmering. Remove before pureeing.
My family has been brought up on butternut squash soup, and I am famous in my neighbourhood for mine. I like your take on it with the curry paste and will try it soon.
My secret to soups (we eat them daily) is to have ready made home made stock. So many people I know say they have not got the time to make stock. Here is my secret if it can help you or any of your patients. There are two painless ways to make stock: one that requires supervision and one that requires no babysitting. Requiring supervision and super quick is to use an old fashioned pressure cooker. Stock is ready in about half an hour. The other way is to use a slow cooker. It cooks all day whilst one is busy doing all kinds of things. When stock is made, I usually place a few jars in the refrigerator. As the fat floats to the top, it creates a hermetic seal that is safe for several days.
My second secret to glorious soups is leeks.
My third secret is vegetables that I have frozen myself or purchased from Macmillans. Stock+ leeks or onion+ frozen vegetable whirred in immersion blender + any herbs one likes and there it is! homemade soup in 15 minutes or less.
Hi Amanda, I love soup too and will give this one a try. Where is a good place to find that brand of coconut milk and curry paste?
Hi Kathy! I have found Aroy D products at most Asian Supermarkets – Blue Sky in Pickering, EZ Fresh in Ajax on Bayly, T&T in Markham – they should all have it!
Hi Christine,
Thanks for stopping by and for the informative comment! The funny thing is I was in the middle of working on this week’s post all about making your own broth, when I received this!
Do you use your pressure cooker a lot? It’s on my Wish List because it would speed up the time of making some things. So far though, my crock pot has been perfect for making broth!
Cheers,
Amanda
Hi Amanda, I made this soup for lunch with friends…..it was delicious! Your tip on prepping the butternut squash for easy peeling was a great help. I made your Egg Muffins for breakfast for my Grandkiddos, they couldn’t get enough of them. I love the recipes, keep them coming. Most of all … Thank you.
Best always, Noeleen
Yay! So glad you enjoyed it Noeleen 🙂