With the onset of our annual Harvest Fest gathering upon us, we were at a slight loss as to what to bring to the table. We knew we wanted to do something Fall themed, but we also knew we didn’t have the time or energy to go all out like we did last year with our mini pumpkin pies:

These little beauties were made from pumpkin goop. Seriously.

So we thought about what we had and decided to go in a completely different direction. Since we knew the ladies would be bringing tons of baked goods [and we’d have plenty of leftover Halloween candy], how about trying something savory for a change?

Thus, our idea for Roasted Butternut Squash Soup was born.

Here’s how you recreate it:

ROASTED BUTTERNUT SQUASH SOUP

Ingredients (for 8 servings)

• Two butternut squash
• Olive oil
• Four cloves of garlic
• Three large mason jars [about 10 cups] homemade vegetable broth
• A sprig of rosemary
• Half an onion, sliced or chopped
• Salt, pepper, and sugar to taste

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 400-degrees and line a baking sheet with foil or parchment paper.
2. Cut your butternut squash in half, longways, and scoop out the seeds and discard or save for future use.
3. Place face up on the cookie sheet, drizzle with olive oil, and plop a clove of peeled garlic in the pocket.
4. Bake for 40 to 60 minutes, until fork tender.
5. Meanwhile, pour your vegetable broth into a stock pot on the stove, add a sprig of rosemary and the chopped onion and let simmer while the butternut squash is roasting.
6. Once the squash is done, scoop out the meat with a spoon or peel back the skin — which ever works best [Jason enjoyed cutting away the skin, while I preferred the scooping method] — and throw into the pot with the garlic, broth, and rosemary.
7. Add salt, pepper, and sugar to taste.
8. Turn up the heat a bit to a low boil and allow the flavors to meld for at least 30 minutes, until you’re satisfied with the taste.
9. Remove the rosemary stalk and put your immersion blender to work, using it to blend all of the ingredients together. If it’s a little too thin for your liking, try thickening by blending in some of your on-reserve pumpkin goop.

Top it with a little goat cheese and some tasty dipping bread, and you have officially created a little taste of Fall in a bowl.

NOTE: Our soup had a bit of a spicy kick, which was quite a welcome surprise! We assume it’s because we forgot about a pepper in our vegetable discards in the freezer [the ingredients that makeup our homemade vegetable broths]. So if you prefer a little kick, feel free to add a green chili or a pepper of your heat-tolerance choice to the roasting and/or boiling process and know that it will taste delicious!