Creamy roasted butternut squash & carrot soup (dairy-free)

9 January 2017

Creamy roasted butternut squash & carrot soup (dairy-free)

super easy

Alright here we go, my first recipe of 2017! I’ve had a very busy last couple of weeks in 2016, including a visit to my family in Belgium for the holidays. I hadn’t actually even cooked anything for those 2 weeks apart from the Christmas day appetisers. So I’m only too happy to be getting back to blogging and cooking! Unlike last year there won’t be many changes on my blog, apart from one thing. I’ll be offering more options for people with allergies and intolerances.

My very first recipe of 2017 is gluten free, vegan, vegetarian and dairy free! And I promise you, you won’t even notice that you’re having soy cream instead of normal one. You can of course just as easily use “normal” cooking cream.
For some reason I’m very new to making my own soups, having only made 4 soupsbefore (although I do make my beetroot soup every autumn).

I figured it was time to make some more. The first one up: a soup made from roasted butternut squash and a few carrots. I really am over the moon with the result! It is so creamy, not too thick, not too thin but unfortunately I did break my hand mixer while making it.. Oh well, that means I get to buy myself a new, which is always fun too!

Health benefits

Apart from making you feel all warm and fuzzy inside, this soup is also a good healthy boost! Butternut squash is a well-known source of beta-carotene, a powerful antioxidant that gives orange vegetables and fruits their vibrant color. Once you eat it, it gets converted into vitamin A. Eating beta-carotene can reduce the risk of developing certain types of cancer and can offer protection against asthma and heart disease. But other than that it’s also a great source of potassium and vitamin C.

Butternut squash is also great for your skin because it of its extremely high vitamin A content, which is needed for sebum production that keeps hair moisturized. Vitamin A plays an important role in the growth of all bodily tissues, including skin and hair.

Reviews

Ingredients:

Adjust Servings

	4 shallots
	1 cube of vegetable stock
	1 butternut squash
	125ml soy cream
	4 carrots
	500ml water (at least)
	sea salt & pepper
	olive oil

Directions

Preheat the oven to 200°C Fan.

Start by slicing up the butternut squash, no need to remove the skin just yet, it will be a lot easier once it's cooked. Slice hem into discs first and then chop each disk in 3-4 pieces. Try to make it so that most pieces are around the same size, that way they'll all be cooked the same way.

Add a splash of olive oil to an oven dish and add your butternut squash along with a few grinds of pepper and a pinch of sea salt. Grill in the oven at 200°C for 20 minutes.

Mark as complete

Take the squash out of the oven, flip the pieces over and pop back in the oven for another 5 minutes, at 220°C this time.

Let the squash cool down a little bit while preparing the other ingredients.

Mark as complete

Slice the carrots up in small chunks, don't make them too thick or your blender might have issues blending them.

Roughly chop the onions and heat up olive oil in a deep pot. Add the onion first and simmer at medium heat for 3 minutes before adding carrots and stock cube.

Mark as complete

Remove the butternut squash skin.

Add the butternut squash to the pot along with the water and season with pepper and salt.

Continue to cook for 20 minutes, add more water along the way if needed, but don't go overboard or you might end up with a soup that's just too thin and won't taste like much. I used around 850ml in total for my soup.

Mark as complete