It’s getting chilly out! The other night, as I lay in bed, I realized my feet were like chunks of ice and it wouldn’t be long before I’m slipping a hot water bottle under the covers!
Winter is a time for warm sweaters, cozy mittens, huge scarfs, furry boots…and soup.
My favourite soup, by far, ROASTED BUTTERNUT SQUASH! So, when Sears Canada asked me to check out the new Kenmore Pro Heavy Duty Professional Blender, it seemed like the perfect time to roast up a squash and turn it into my favourite lunchtime treat!
But…before I tell you about the soup, let’s start with the blender.
I admit, I don’t have a lot of fancy kitchen gadgets so this felt pretty spectacular the moment I took it out of the box.
For starters, it has a 2L volume BPA-free container which is light-weight and easy to attach to the unit. (While it’s winter and soup is in order, I can anticipate a few summer drinks in this thing!) The unit itself has a 1450W motor with variable speeds, a pulse function and stainless steel blades…so essentially, you can chop, blend, cream, grind and crush to your heart’s content. (When I first turned it on, it practically walked across my counter!) I tested all of the buttons and in the end, had the creamiest soup imaginable…I have a feeling I’m going to really enjoy getting to know this blender!
My only issue…it’s tall and doesn’t quite fit under my kitchen counter. But, I was in the mood for a kitchen makeover anyway!
On to the soup.
Maple Roasted Butternut Squash Soup
I didn’t grow up with Squash being part of my diet and admit, the very first time I tried it was when making baby food back in the nineties…and I was hooked! This recipe is absolutely simple…and while my last blender had me blending it in batches, this one fits the entire contents in one go AND I even bought the biggest squash I could find!
Ingredients:
- Large Butternut Squash, halved and seeded
- 1 TB Olive Oil
- 4 Green Onions, chopped (sometimes I use sweet onion)
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- 1 Garlic Clove, minced (more if you’re a garlic fan…I think the original recipe called for 4!)
- 2 TB Maple Syrup (or more if you’d like! I use Maple Bacon Syrup)
- 1/8 tsp Nutmeg
- Ground Pepper
- 3 1/2 cups Chicken Broth
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 400.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and place the two pieces of squash on the pan.
- Coat the squash with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
- Turn the squash face down and place in the pre-heated oven.
- Sit back…have a cup of tea, check out social media, watch a show…you’ve 45 minutes to wait for the squash to roast!
- Place the squash aside to cool for about 10 minutes or so before removing the outer skin.
- While waiting for the squash to cool, sauté the green onion in olive oil until a golden brown. (If you’re like me, chuck out the burnt bits!)
- Add garlic and salt to the pan and continue heating for about another minute.
- This is where I typically put the onion and squash in a bowl so I can begin cooking it in batches, but if you have a heavy-duty blender like the new Kenmore Pro Heavy Duty Professional Blender, it will all fit! (If you don’t have a heavy-duty blender like me, you might have to cook it in batches…or, keep reading to the end for your chance to win one!)
- Place the squash and onions into the blender along with the maple syrup, nutmeg, pepper and chicken broth. (Depending on how big your squash is, you may need to add a little more chicken broth but I like a thick soup!)
- Blend until creamy smooth and serve warm. You can drizzle a bit of maple syrup on the top or even add a bit of brie adn crackers…but it’s fabulous straight up!
And there you have it…soup for lunch!
Win a Kenmore Pro Heavy Duty Professional Blender!
Sears Canada is giving away a Kenmore Pro Heavy Duty Professional Blender (value $149.97) to one of the readers of Curtains are Open. Enter the giveaway below for your chance to win. The giveaway is open to residents of Canada, 18+ (excluding Quebec.) Prize delivery is not guaranteed by Christmas.
Disclaimer: As a Brand Ambassador for Sears Canada, I’m happy to showcase some of the amazing products that Sears has in store. Follow them onTwitter, Facebook or Instagram for all of the latest news. As always, my opinions and stories are my own.
I love to make potato and leek soup! Its basically leeks, taters, broth, and cream!
My favorite recipe is for chicken noodle soup
i love butternutsquash soup too!! by far the best!
My absolute favourite soup is a spicy Mulligatawny. So good, especially in the cold winter months. That spicy kick can kick the sniffles to the curb!
My kids love cream of broccoli and sweet potato + white beans soups.
I love Pumpkin curry soup
My favourite soup is sorrel borscht.
I love cream of broccoli soup
I would like to try a mushroom soup.. and I would also use the blender for fruit smoothies.
My favourite soup recipe is one for broccoli cheddar soup.
My favourite soup recipe is butternut squash soup!
I make mint pea soup with peas, onions, mint and chicken broth – it’s easy but SO good.
We love cream of corn soup with garlic bread! yum 🙂
Definitely squash soup, with carrots and parsnips in it.
I would like to try and make potatoes soup.
I would love to make a Cream of Broccoli & Cauliflower soup that I have a recipe for. Sounds like a great blender.
a roasted tomato soup
butternut squash soup
I love all kids of soups but a sweet carrot is always my fav
My fav soup recipe is minestrone soup.
I make a mean Sweet Potato Curry Soup. 🙂
I love making split pea soup this time of year!
I love carrot almond soup!
I like pureed Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato soup
That butternut squash soup looks incredible. I have a Pumpkin Apple one that is currently my favourite and my blender is getting weak from being used so much. Would love to win this beauty!
I have a favourite broccoli soup that I like to make.
My favorite soup recipe is a tomato soup for sure!
My favorite is Cauliflower Cheddar soup! Warms my tummy! And needs a heavy duty blender to get that cauliflower smooth!
I love a simple borscht.
I love Broccoli and Cheese soup, but also love making Oatmeal Maple Peanut Butter Blender Muffins.
My favourite is coconut curry butternut squash soup
My favourite to make is carrot soup
I would love to make a roasted red pepper
My favourite soup recipe is Sausage and potato chowder
I don’t know what I like more about soup – the smell or the taste! My favourite is Italian Chicken soup.
My favorite soup is chicken and rice
My favourite soup recipe is cream of broccoli.
My favourite soup is Yellow Split Pea Soup with Ham and Bacon.
I like potato and onion soup
I love butternut squash soup!
My favourte is butternut squash soup
My favourite soup is corn soup.
Pea soup! YUM! I have an old family recipe!
My hubby loves onion soup and cream of mushroom so I always want to have a blender and try to make some
I wouldn’t mind trying a summer soup like gazpacho or salmarejo.
My family loves soup and our fave is a cream of broccoli/cauliflower. We also are big smoothie lovers here too and this would be so amazing. Not to mention my oldest (14) hates veggies so hiding them in soups, stews, sauces would be SO much easier with this!
I love cream of potato soup. Although I have never made it home made. I guess this blender would be able to successfully blend those cooked potato’s very well. I hoping to try the smoothie healthy trend in the new year as well.
My favourite soup recipe is butternut squash soup!
I would really love to try this for its grinding capability – nuts and grains specifically.
I would love to try a homemade Tomato Soup recipe because I love Tomato Soup and I believe everything tastes better when it’s homemade
My favorite homemade soup is chicken with egg noodle dumplings!
I love Cream of Broccoli!
I love pea soup with big chucks of ham added! 🙂
I would definitely use this for making green monster smoothies.
and i’d try making potato leek soup!
Carrot Ginger Soup
I made homemade turkey soup once, wasn’t bad but wasn’t great either, lol. Homemade soups have always intimated me, but I definitely want to try this recipe!!! Thx!
My favourite soup is French Onion… no blender required for that, but I would want to whip up some homemade almond butter.
I would like to try to make cream of broccoli soup!
We love a squash soup or corn chowder.
Cream of potato and bacon
I love lots of soups. One of my favourites is potato with bacon bits. I would also love to make healthy breakfast smoothies in this.
Oh split pea soup is my favorite for winter.
I like carrot soup. Celery, onion and lots of carrots cooked in butter then add vegetable stock salt and pepper and blend.
My fave soup is potato leek!
I love coconut tai and broccoli cheddar for soups
My favorite is French Onion
I adore clam chowder.
my favorite is split pea soup
I love butternut squash soup!! but really any vegetable soup is amazing for me
Creamy corn and potato chowder always does it for me.
My favourite soup is butternut squash with coconut milk and red curry.
I love making butternut squash and red pepper soup
I enjoy cream of mushroom
Butternut Squash soup is driving me to get a blender. I tried making it once before with one of those handheld “boat motors”, but just couldn’t get it smooth enough. This blender looks like a pretty good deal too. All metal drive is pretty rare in this price range.