Carrot Soup With Butternut Squash

Butternut Squash Ingredients

Chicken broth – two cans (use low sodium variety)
Fresh tarragon – optional
Butter or margarine – one tablespoon (you can use two tablespoon of olive oil instead)
Nutmeg powder – one fourth of a teaspoon
Butternut squash – three cups (peel and dice them into small cubes)
Light cream – one fourth of a cup
Leeks – three fourth of a cup (slice them into thin pieces) use onion slices, if leeks are not available.
Soy milk – half cup
Celery stalks – three (dice them)
Fresh sage – two tablespoon (chop them) use two teaspoon of dried sage, if fresh ones are not available.
White pepper powder – one fourth of a teaspoon

Method Of Preparation

1. Put the margarine or butter into a saucepan.
2. Place the pan on medium heat.
3. Stir in the leeks, onions, celery, squash and carrots.
4. Cover the pan and cook for about eight minutes. Stir frequently to prevent the vegetables from sticking to the bottom of the pan.
5. Pour in the broth and increase the flame.
6. Once the broth comes to the boil, reduce the heat and let it simmer on medium heat for a few minutes.
7. Reduce the heat and cook the broth on low flame for about 25 minutes or until the vegetables are slightly overcooked.
8. Scoop out one third of this mixture and pour it into a plate so that it cools quickly. Once it has cooled, put the mixture into a food processor. Blend the mixture on slow speed for a minute or two and then on high speed for a minute. Ensure that this mixture has a smooth watery texture.
9. Add the blended and non-blended broth to your saucepan and bring it to the boil on medium heat.
   Season with pepper powder, fresh sage and nutmeg powder.
10. Add soy milk and light cream and pour into soup bowls.
11. Garnish with tarragon.

Health Tips

• The above mentioned ingredients provide six servings of the soup.
• The preparation time is twenty minutes, whereas the cooking time is fifty minutes.
• Substitute the chicken broth for vegetable broth to make this a vegetarian recipe.
• It is a vegetarian preparation, which also fits the diet of diabetic individuals.
• The soup contains dairy products and is not recommended for individuals with high sensitivity levels.
• Each serving of the soup provides 103 calories and the total fat content is four grams.
• The soup is high in its total sodium content – about 447 mg per serving.
• The carbohydrate contribution is 16 grams per serving of the butternut squash soup.