Cooking: Butternut Squash Soup with Apple and Ginger

We are having the most gorgeous Fall around here. I guess it doesn't really qualify as an Indian Summer as we had our first snowstorm last week, but it is warm and beautiful nonetheless.  Clear blue skies and great color all around. Though it's not quite chilly it's cool enough in my book for soup! I love soup and I make a lot of it in the cooler months. 

This one is a butternut squash soup with apple and ginger. My neighbor, JoAnn, makes an incredible butternut squash soup with bacon and cream and brown sugar--yum. This soup is not that! ;-) This is lighter, but still yummy, and totally guilt free. So good for filling up. Freezes well too.

Click below for the recipe.

Butternut Squash Soup with Apple and Ginger

2 teaspoons olive oil
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/4  teaspoon ground nutmeg
3 T minced fresh ginger
1/2 cup onion
6 cups chopped peeled butternut squash (about 3 pounds)
6 cups water
4 cups chopped peeled Granny Smith apple (about 1 pound)
Sea salt or Kosher salt to taste
1/3 cup half-and-half

Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add spices, ginger and onion, and cook until onion is soft, stirring frequently. Add squash, water, and apple; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 30 minutes (until squash and apple are soft).

Puree soup in small batches in blender until smooth. Pour soup back into pan and stir in salt and half-and-half. Heat until warm and serve.