Thanks!

I love butternut squash soup, but adding a can of pumpkin doesn't appeal to me at all.

I worked with a french chef who did something quite unusual but surprisingly delicious: simmer the cubed squash in clamp juice! Puree adding in cubed butter to emulsify. Salt and pepper but nothing much else and it's yummy.

Raw pumpkin, fairly large, about $2.00 - 3.00, not hard to process, will produce enough pumpkin to have filled several cans, and can blanch and freeze/share with family/friend(s).

lisaam ... just after your cubed squash, you refer to "clamp juice", with which, in my limited culinary experience, I'm not familiar ... but wonder whether you may have meant "clam" ... but if that should happen to be the situation, I wouldn't have a clue as to how to get the "p" out of that "clamp juice"!

georgysmom2 ... while saluting butter, onion and pepper in a Dutch oven (or any other, for that matter) is rather a new procedure for me, I fear that my poor old arm'd holding that salute'd be getting pretty darn tired before 8 min. were up.

o j

joyful....yes, not that hard and probably not that bad on electricity or gas but I buy canned pumpkin on sale and find it works really well.....If I could grow pumpkins I might feel differently but I can get a case for a great price and the quality is the same for no work. Good for you that you go to the work!

Also for any of the veggie soups that call for cream of any kind, I always substitute coconut milk. If you hate coconut it might not be a hit for you but I really like it!

That wouldn't help me, I don't like pumpkin. I do like sweet potatoes but not in soup.

I make 2 different sweet potato soups. One with chipotle and the other with andouille. Love the sweet/hot combination of flavors.

Chipotle Sweet Potato Soup

2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 medium onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

3 - 4 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cut in large chunks
4 – 5 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup heavy cream ( Half & half works too.)

2 canned chipotles, diced and some of the adobo (use less if you don't want that much heat)
salt and freshly ground pepper (optional)

In a large saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter and sweat the onion and garlic for 5 minutes, or until translucent. Raise the heat to high, add the sweet potatoes and broth and bring to a boil. Lower the heat to medium and simmer for about 30 minutes or until the potatoes are soft.

Remove from the heat; puree in the pan with an immersion blender. Add chipotles and cream. Heat for a few minutes more, seasoning to taste. Serve in bowls sprinkled with chives or pepitas.

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Sweet Potato Andouille Bisque

2-3 tablespoons butter

1 large onion, chopped

2 stalks celery chopped

2-3 cloves garlic, finely minced

1/3 pound andouille sausage, chopped

32 ounces chicken broth

2 large sweet potatoes, cut into chunks

salt & pepper

about 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

Melt butter and saute onions and celery. Add garlic and andouille. Continue to saute for about a minute. Add broth and sweet potatoes. Bring to a boil, then simmer until potatoes are done. Puree with immersion blender. Add cream to taste.

Also for any of the veggie soups that call for cream of any kind, I always substitute coconut milk. If you hate coconut it might not be a hit for you but I really like it!

Anne, I imagine that really kicks it up. I have a few soup recipes in my queue that call for coconut milk.

ole joyful you have probably saute'd things before but just did not know what you were doing had a name. It is basically putting things like onions, and other veggies in a pan and cooking until they soften. Most people use some type of oil/butter/other liquid in the pan. Fried potatoes and onions were a common food when I was growing up and at least my mom cooked the onions a little bit before adding the potatoes.

Duh, if I don't care for one of those things, I sure would not care for a combination of them.

I will be willing to try if someone would prepare it for me.

You might be surprised, sushipup: my DH does not like pumpkin but he loves curried pumpkin and coconut soup, pumpkin pies and pumpkin scones.

I have one little slice of pumpkin pie once a year. Butternut squash even less often. Sweet potatoes? Not in soup. Sorry. Entire premise is "if you don't like that, you'll like this" but it's all the same orange goop to me.

It's still a very weak premise. I will not eat a raw tomato as a sliced tomato, but I love bruschetta, for instance. It's still a raw tomato, but prepared differently.

Me too Glenda, I will try it if someone else cooks it!

I'll eat almost anything, prepared any way. And I've eaten and enjoyed many things people find exotic. All the same, I find the taste of pumpkin and butternut squash unpleasant and won't eat either. Pumpkin is a squash anyway and while it has a bit more flavor than many, I strongly dislike all. I've had butternut squash soup in two upscale restuarants - "try this, you'll like it prepared this way"- and had the same reaction both times. Yuck, no, I don't want another spoonful.

I also dislike sweet potatoes and don't eat it in any form either.

I'm a bit farther down the scale but near to sushipup. No, I dislike the taste, combine it with other things I don't like, I'll still dislike the taste.

Elmer J Fudd, as I have told you before....you are a curmudugeon i can't spell but like.

How so? What triggered that comment?

Appreciate those that share recipes even if it may not be my favorite. Sharing is what it is all about,

I do not like pumpkin pie. I've tried many recipes because it's un American not to have pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving. It was my Mom's favorite, my kids love it but i do not like pumpkin pie. I once tried a recipe for pumpkin cheesecake pie and that was pretty good, but pumpkin pie, nope. So I get it, I like pumpkin bread (with lots of nuts and raisins, I like pumpkin roll, but I do not like pumpkin pie. I know not why because I like all the ingredients that go into it but it doesn't work for me. Sweet potatoes? Unless doused in gobs of butter with lots of brown sugar, not my favorite. My club makes the best sweet potato fries ever. Cut like steak fries, nice and crispy on the outside and wonderfully creamy on the inside. Sooo good! I've ordered them elsewhere, not so good. Butternut squash soup and Autumn just seem to go together and it sounds so good. I've had it at my favorite restaurant, what Elmer would call an "upscale" restaurant but what I call "a special occasion restaurant" and it was okay, but not my favorite. I've tried it at other restaurants and not so good. But, it's Autumn and butternut squash soup sounds so good. So, I've tried a number of recipes and for me, the butternut squash, pumpkin, sweet potato soup is really good. So do I think a different recipe can make a difference? Sometimes, yes. JMO

Thanks for the recipe georgysmom, sound delicious.

Several years ago we had a winter squash plant that did really well, producing 18 large squash ranging in weight from 10 to 25 lbs each. After several iterations I concocted the following recipe.

Thai Curry and Coconut Cheese Squash Soup

1 large Long Island Cheese Squash (like 20 lbs large)
1 Tbsp Olive Oil
2 tsp red curry powder
1 large sweet onion (chopped)
1 large red onion (chopped)
2 red jalapeno peppers (chopped fine)
1 Tbsp ground ginger paste
1 1/2 teaspoons Thai red curry paste
4 cups water
2 Tbsp Better than Bouillon Vegetable base
1/2 tsp salt
ground black pepper
ground white pepper
2 cans unsweetened coconut milk

Cut squash into wedges, scoop out seeds and cut off tough outer
shell. Place in large baking pan, lightly coat
with olive oil, and curry powder, and bake in a convection oven at 400
deg F for 45 min to 1 hour

In large stock pot, saute onions and jalapenos in little olive oil
until
tender. Add ginger paste and continue to stir and cook for another
minute or two. Add cooked squash, coconut milk, red curry paste,
vegetable base and water. Puree carefully in pot with an immersion
blender, and bring to a simmer. Simmer soup for about
15-20 minutes. Add salt, black pepper and white pepper to taste.

The amount made nearly filled a 6 quart crock pot.

Non-cook and non-foodie here, as you know. I'd spend five minutes opening and warming: Pacific Food's Red Pepper and Tomato Soup. (None of their other varieties; just this one.) We buy it in bulk at Costco. Four servings to a package. It could go easier on the salt, but what prepared food couldn't? It's 'organic' -- like I care at 78.

Chisue, have you tried Trader Joe's Tomato and Roasted Red Pepper Soup? It gets rave reviews. I make my own roasted red pepper soup, so I've never tried it.

Andie -- Trader Joe's would have to be a separate trip for me, but thanks for the idea. We hit Costco about once a month for several things. It's only 10 minutes, door to door.

For me it's not a flavor thing but a texture thing. I simply don't care much for creamy or thickened soups. I will eat them if they are served but I tend toward broth based soups. I also don't use soup as a meal, especially for a main meal. It's something I will have with a sandwich at lunch or as a first course for dinner. There are exceptions, Russian pelmeni in broth or Mexican caldo de res but for the most part soup as a meal doesn't cut it for me.

I LOVE butternut squash soup, but what I do is roast cloves of garlic, onion and the squash in the oven so that it caramelizes slightly. Then I do the immersion part (with chicken broth and cream). The roasting part of the recipe is a game changer.