Butternut Squash Soup

We love our soup at this time of the year when the weather is cold outside and we want to warm up from the inside out. Soup is also great because it can be prepared in bulk and stored in the freezer for a healthy option with minimal work. This butternut squash soup recipe is one of our favorites and from our experience, seems to be liked by most. Kids love this recipe! It’s a great way to get some high quality nutrition for them with something they’ll love. This soup is sweet, full of flavour and nutrition, and the colour makes us smile!

We’re still tending towards eating a low carbohydrate diet as we’ve shared previously and this soup fits in nicely with our low carb regime. We’re no longer eating a Keto diet at this point. If we were, this soup would have too much carbohydrate; however for how we’re doing things nowadays, it’s a good choice for us. Squash in general is a nice option for low carb diets ranging from about 3 to 10 grams of net carbs per 100 grams. The apples we add here give a nice sweetness but again, as far as fruits go, apples are low in carbohydrates (12g net carbs per 100 grams).

One of the great things about this soup is that it can be prepared from seasonal and local produce late into the winter. We’ve stocked our main ingredients so that, even at this time of year, we’re able to use Ontario grown produce! Wherever possible we try to use locally grown ingredients. In general we also try to eat a lot of seasonal foods which means eating food that’s grown within or close to the season we’re currently in. In Ontario, that can be tricky because the growing season only lasts about half the year. Luckily, many of the winter vegetables can be stored in a cold cellar or refrigerator for months at a time.

With it’s sweet and nutty flavour, butternut squash is generally a favorite among the winter squashes. It has a low glycemic index and is great for people living with diabetes. It’s also a great source of fibre, which many people are lacking. One serving has over 100% of the RDA of Vitamin A, which is important for eye health, the skin and the immune system. It also contains 40% of the RDA for Vitamin C, which we’re all trying to make sure we get lots of nowadays to help keep our immune system strong and healthy. Butternut squash is also a good source of magnesium, potassium, calcium, vitamin E, thiamin, niacin, vitamin B-6, folate, pantothenic acid, and manganese. (Butternut Squash nutritional information sourced from 1 and 2 ).

You likely know the familiar expression, “An apple a day keeps the doctor away.” While this may not be 100% accurate, it highlights that apples are a great source of nutrition, as are most fruits! As mentioned, apples are lower in sugar and carbohydrate than many fruits, which is another thing that makes them a great choice. They also have a high water content which helps with hydration. Apples have lots of fibre, both soluble and insoluble. They also contain pectin, a type of fiber that acts as a prebiotic which feeds the good bacteria in your gut. Apples also contain a good amount and a variety of different vitamins, minerals and antioxidants, which help to help neutralize damaging free radicals in our bodies. Unfortunately, in this recipe, we do remove the skin of the apples, so there will be a loss of some nutrients. (Apple nutritional information sourced from 3 and 4 )

In a previous blog, we shared about our love for Herbamare, an organic seasoning salt we use extensively! In this recipe we use the Herbamare Vegetable bouillon cubes. We’re sure to avoid most commonly used bouillon cubes as they contain Monosodium Glutamate (MSG). We’ve tried many of the boulions found in health food stores and this is the one we like the most! We buy it at Healthy Planet in Milton or sometimes on Well.ca .