Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

I am a spoiled girl! My hubby took my months of "hinting" to heart and got me a great Christmas present. And of course, when I say "hinting" I mean that I was drilling it into his head that I wanted an immersion blender for Christmas. So guess what!? I got an immersion blender for Christmas! I was am excited! This recipe was one of the first big things that I have used my immersion blender to make. If you don't know what an immersion blender is, I will tell you. It is a hand-held device that is immersed and used to blend... Mind blown? Didn't think so... I don't know how else to describe it! But it is awesome for making sauces, soups, batters or anything. Here is a picture of the one I got:

The first thing I used it for was to make my crepe batter on Christmas morning. I could have used a hand mixer like a normal person would have done, but I was eager, to say the least. And I figured that it would help my crepe batter be nice and smooth, with no lumps. For this soup recipe, it helps a lot because instead of having to take your soup out of the pot and blend it in the blender in small batches, you can just use the immersion blender right in the pot! Also, I made Parmesan croutons out of some French bread to put on top, it was perfect! But this recipe so super easy and really yummy! I made it into a dinner with some Lemon-Pepper chicken and a salad.

TIPS
If you aren't a crock pot person, just do it over the stove and simmer until the squash is nice and tender. Then blend and continue like normal.
If you are short on prep time, skip the roasting and throw it all in the crock pot and let it go. But roasting will enhance the flavor... just saying
I really wish I had tried adding a little kick, like some crushed red pepper flakes or something. I think it would be so tasty!
That butternut squash is a beast to get into, but you can definitely do it!
I used a regular potato peeler to peel the squash. I just had to go over it a couple of times to get through the tough outer layer.

Just throw it in the pot!

After roasting

After about 4 hours

Blend, blend, blend!

INGREDIENTS

Enjoy!

3-4 lb butternut squash, peeled and cubed
1 medium onion, roughly chopped
1 medium carrot, peeled and sliced
3-4 cloves of garlic, peeled and smashed
Olive oil
Salt & Pepper
32oz of chicken broth (sub vegetable broth if you are going for vegetarian)
1/2 cup plain greek yogurt
1/2 cup of parmesan or fontina cheese

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. On a large baking sheet, lightly coat the squash, onions, carrots and garlic in olive oil and S&P. Roast for 20-30 minutes. Place the roasted vegetables in the crock pot and cover with broth. Cook covered for 4+ hours or until vegetable are nice and tender. Using an immersion blender, puree soup in the crock pot to the desired consistency. If you are using a standard blender, you will need to work in batches and blend. Once pureed, stir in yogurt and cheese and heat for 10 more minutes to allow the cheese to melt. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Serve with homemade croutons, French bread or even more cheese!