Judging by the borderline excessive amount of orange-colored veggies I’ve been consuming recently, I’m genuinely amazed that I haven’t turned orange yet.
Really though. Carrots, sweet potatoes, acorn squash, butternut squash, pumpkin – I’ve got ’em all in my kitchen right this very second, and eat on at least two each day. At least I know I’ve got a good source of beta carotene (and thus, Vitamin A) in my diet, right? Great for immune function, healthy skin, and fighting off free radicals? Siiiign me up!
Enough of all that science-y talk though, the main reasons most of us choose the foods we eat are for taste and enjoyment, right? For the most part, we base our meals and snacks on foods that sound good to us, or on foods that we find pleasure in eating.
Lucky for you, not only does this recipe pack some serious nutrition and health benefits, but it also packs some serious taste and flavor, too. Double whammy!
I mean, just LOOK at the creamy, dreaminess of this bowl:
I sorta just wanna bathe in it…is that weird? Yes, it totally is. Whatever.
In all seriousness though, considering that I just sorta threw ingredients together, this butternut squash soup offered so much more flavor and depth than I expected. The key ingredient is something you might not expect….
So, about that key ingredient….NUTMEG. Seriously guys, it is a total game changer in this recipe!! The soup tastes great as is, but the addition of nutmeg gives this soup another level of flavor and warmth, as well as an extra notch on the flavor profile.
And those chickpeas on top? SUPER easy to make. I actually threw them together last minute for some added crunch. Sprayed with some extra virgin olive oil, tossed with turmeric and ground cumin, and roasted in the over at 380 for around 20 minutes, or until crispy! A perfectly tasty healthier alternative to croutons!
Top with roasted chickpeas, fresh sage, and an extra sprinkle of ground pepper and you’ll almost feel like you should be eating this at a five star restaurant đ
This batch ended up making about 3 servings that were a little over 1 cup each. Next time I make it (which will be very soon), I think I’m going to double all of the ingredients to make more.
I also used a bag of the pre-cut, cubed butternut squash to not only save some time, but to cut back on the risk of slicing my hand open. Seriously, I always feel like I’m one cut away from the emergency room when I’m dealing with whole butternut squash! The bag I used had roughly 3 cups worth of cubes, so when doubling I will go for 2 bags.
When I had it the first time around, I paired it with one of my black bean and quinoa burgers and an arugula salad (pictured above), but I’m itching to have it with a classic grilled cheese on one of these cold, winter days we’ve got coming up! It’d also go great with a salad topped with roasted veggies and some grilled chicken.
Another time I had it I paired it with avocado toast with Fix hot sauce and and apple. I ended up adding a hardboiled egg on top of the toast for some extra protein, too. And then I went around and had the exact same thing the next day…..
[yumprint-recipe id=’21’]
