Mama Gi's
Butternut Squash Soup

Ingredients:

One big Butternut Baby

One big Spanish onion (or 2 medium)

4 or 5 large carrots (or one whole pack of those typically sized ones)

2 medium sized sweet potatoes

2 medium sized russet potatoes

2-3 whole garlic cloves

First, peel the skin off the Butternut using a knife or vegetable peeler, then de-seed.  If peeling poses too much of a challenge, try this:  Place the squash on a cookie sheet and bake in the oven, uncovered, at 350 degrees for about 35 minutes, after which you’ll easily peel and remove seeds.  Chop into medium sized pieces (try for no smaller than, say, 3-inch chunks or so.)

Peel all potatoes and the onion, then cut them in halves.  Peel carrots and cut up into large pieces.

Throw all your ingredients (don’t forget that garlic!) in a large pot (a stockpot’ll do), adding about one gallon of water (16 cups, give or take a cup.)   In the event you like your soup with a little SASS, you can throw one nice, hot pepper into the pot (4 or 5 fennel seeds also adds an interesting flavor, and is generally soothing to the tummy.)

Cover the pot, and cook until the ingredients are somewhat tender (but not mushy), about 40 minutes.  Begin ladling ingredients into a blender or food processor (make sure you include a fair mix of ingredients and liquid in each blender-full) and blend ‘til smooth.  Once blended, transfer to a large bowl or alternate pot.  Repeat the process until all ingredients have been blended.

For the final swan song, add some Extra Virgin Olive Oil immediately before serving – salt and pepper to taste.  Too, too good!