Sunday..Funday...Prep Day

The holidays are over and tomorrow it's back to work for this Nicole. Prepping on Sundays is one of the most important ways for me, to make Whole 30 a success. I started my first 2015 Whole 30 today. My biggest struggles with Whole 30 are with breakfast meals. I'm kind of picky and usually tend to only eat a piece of fruit. My goal for this Whole 30 is to make breakfast time my priority. It is the most important meal of the day. So my plan is to incorporate more vegetables in to breakfast meals. Today, I made enough butternut squash soup to get me through the work week. I figure the soup, plus a piece of fruit is a better start than fruit alone. My butternut squash soup recipe is super easy and can be adjusted to please anyone's palette. I never make it the same way twice, but I've never made a batch I didn't love (ok, once, I added kale and ruined a whole batch...it may still be in my freezer from fall of 2013).

What you need:
Butternut squash (any size, usually around 4-6 lbs)
32 ounces of compliant chicken stock-I used Swanson's Cooking Stock this time
1 large or 2 small onions diced
Ghee or coconut oil (optional)
Water
Desired spices (recommendations below)

Instructions: 
Use a vegetable peeler to remove the skin from the butternut squash. Slice the squash in to smaller pieces/chunks and place in to an oven safe baking dish, add a little chicken stock to the pan so the squash doesn't stick and so it can soak up some of the flavor. Add some salt and pepper to the squash for some extra flavor. Cook at 375 for an hour. In a stock pot add the remaining chicken stock from the 32 ounce container. Place the cut up onions in to the stock pot. Add desired spices and bring the chicken stock and onions to a boil. Once the butternut squash is done cooking in the oven add the squash to the stock pot. Let cook for approximately 20 minutes. Use an immersion blender to mix everything in the stock pot. You can add water to get it to the desired consistency you enjoy. 

So now the variations and recommendations....

You can bake the butternut squash soup for longer to get a more roasted flavor. You can also cover the squash in coconut oil. olive oil or ghee when baking. I tend to intake enough fat in other meals that I don't like to add it to this soup (just a personal choice). You can caramelize the onions in ghee, olive oil or coconut oil before adding the chicken stock to your pot. I think that you can really taste the difference and would highly recommend doing it that way if you are not particularly concerned with your fat intake. You can also remove the skin and cook the butternut squash in the pot with the chicken stock and onions. I personally prefer the taste of a roasted butternut squash over the stove top method. If you do not have an immersion blender you can pour the contents of the pot in to a regular blender. Just make sure that it is cooled enough if you have a plastic blender. I often add salt, pepper, garlic powder, paprika, nutmeg, cinnamon and cayenne pepper. I would recommend very small doses of everything until you get the taste you enjoy. The smallest amount of cayenne pepper can make the whole batch very spicy so avoid it all together if you aren't in to spicy foods. I would recommend doing no more than a half teaspoon of nutmeg, cinnamon and garlic because these ingredients can change the taste drastically. It's better to add more if you think something is missing than ruin an entire batch because the flavor is too intense. 

The whole process works well in a crock pot too! Just dump the ingredients in the slow cooker and come home to amazing smells and a fantastic meal. 

Pictures of the process and the end results included....ok, so I ate one of the mason jars before I could get the final picture...once you try this recipe out you'll understand.  

If you try the recipe out, let us know what you think! Wishing everyone a happy, healthy and Whole 2015.  ~Nicci, Whole30-Day 1


Squash in baking pan                                                            Chicken stock, with onions and spices