Vegetable Medley Soup - featuring acorn squash

Yesterday was vegetable pasta - Spaghetti Squash with an Acorn Squash Cream Sauce. But what did I do with the other half of that acorn squash? I know, I know, some of you lost sleep over this. So I will keep you waiting no longer.

I turned the other half into a Vegetable Medley Soup. A blend of a handful of veggies, diced tomatoes, homemade stock and some pureed acorn squash all came together to make a beautiful fall soup perfect for warming our bellies on these ever cooling days.

As usual, whenever I create as I go in the kitchen I rarely keep track of measurements because I eyeball it all the way. So this is a rough estimate. But it's soup so feel free to add and subtract based on your families likes and dislikes and what you have on hand. Trust me, it is hard to go wrong here!

I started by pureeing the other half of the roasted acorn squash. Mine was a little dry so I added in some Waste Not Vegetable Broth to get a nice smooth consistency.

Then I chopped up my veggies - 1/2 cup to 1 cup each of onion, celery, and carrots. Mushrooms are nice too if you have them.

These went into a pot that was already heating up with 1 to 2 Tbsp of olive oil. Saute these until they begin to soften. I still like a little crunch in my veggies {plus they soften as they continue to cook in the soup} so I don't go too long. Add in some seasoning - I did salt, pepper, basil, oregano, and garlic powder - and stir.

Last step is to add in a 30oz can of diced tomatoes {juice too}, your squash puree, and about 2 cups of broth. Vegetable broth is an obvious choice being that this is a veggie soup but I had some homemade chicken broth on hand I wanted to use up so I added that. Either works fine. Stir it up, bring to a boil, then reduce heat and let simmer for about 20 minutes. Dish up and enjoy!

I wanted to add that this was so delicious! I tried a bowl when it was ready and I had to practically fight my 2 year old off to make sure I got my share. My husband was impressed too and commented that the big chunks of mushroom really made it special. Thinking I may have to make another batch with some of the remaining acorn squash!

Veggie Pasta - Spaghetti Squash with an Acorn Squash Cream Sauce

Holy squash batman! Yesterday while at Winco I decided to pick up a spaghetti squash knowing that it would make a tasty pasta dish without the actual pasta. Little did I know that later in the day my husband's grandpa would bless us with an abundance of acorn squash as well. As I was browsing through squash recipes I saw an idea for a squash cream sauce and thought why not combine squash pasta with a squash sauce? Overkill...maybe, but I thought it was worth a shot. Let me walk you through what I did and how it turned out.

I started by roasting the acorn squash. Just cut it in half, scoop out the seeds, place flesh side down on a greased baking sheet, and bake at 425 degrees for about 45 minutes. While you are at it, roast those seeds! I just separate them from the stringy stuff, rinse and dry them off, toss with a bit of olive oil and salt and put on the same baking sheet as the squash. These will be done much quicker (check around 15 to 20 minutes) so you will want to pull them out and then keep the squash going. Mine went for about 25 and got a little dark but we don't mind them that way:

Once the squash is done roasting and cool enough to touch, scoop out the innards and place in the food processor along with 4 oz of softened cream cheese, 1 clove of garlic, 2 Tbsp of Parmesan, basil, oregano, salt and pepper. Start whirling them all together while streaming in some milk. Start with 1/4 cup and keep adding until you get the consistency you desire. Less milk leaves a thicker sauce that actually would be great as a dip or work well on a heartier pasta. More milk will thin it out and make it more appropriate for something delicate like spaghetti squash. I made this earlier in the day so my evening would go smoother so I left it on the thicker side to start knowing I could add more milk as I reheated it later on. {Want to go lighter on the dairy and the calories? Sub vegetable stock for all or part of the milk}

When dinner time got closer I roasted the spaghetti squash much in the same way as the acorn squash. Included the seeds in this batch as well because the little people ate all of the ones from the first squash already!

Used a fork to shred the squash into "spaghetti" and topped with the rewarmed sauce that I thinned with a little more milk and some vegetable stock.

Verdict - It was okay. Why am I sharing it then? The sauce was really, really good. I just think I am not totally a fan of the two squashes together...probably overkill for me. But if you LOVE squash this may be for you. I would love to try this on regular pasta and mix in some sausage and mushroom to the finished product. Either way the sauce will definitely be made again. Hope you enjoy some variation of this! Want to know what I did with the other half of the acorn squash? Come back tomorrow and I'll share another recipe.