The Great Soup Challenge - Round One

Thanks so much to everyone who replied to my plea for soup recipes to keep me warm during the frigid weather that we are (still) having here in Canada.  There were so many tasty sounding soups that I had a hard time deciding which one to try first.  Shrimp and fennel?  Moroccan chickpea?  Black bean?  And, if black bean, recipe number one or two?  My perpetually indecisive mind didn't know what to do. 

Fortunately, the decision was made for me when I realized that I had half a container of sour cream sitting idle in my fridge, which would be an acceptable substitute for the creme fraiche in the butternut squash and chili soup recipe that Sharron (of Jewelling the Elephant) suggested.  So, after venturing out in the -30 C (not counting the wind chill) weather for my photography lesson on Saturday, I spent the rest of the day hiding out in my warm kitchen making soup.

 

I am a huge fan of butternut squash, so this recipe was perfect.  The only modifications I made were to simmer the squash in the broth after roasting it and to add a pile of Frank's Red Hot sauce, because as the old woman says:

I'm longing to try more recipes, but unfortunately I have this pesky thing called work taking up most of my time, not to mention the fact that my freezer is currently filled to the point that it pops open if I'm not careful.  (Thankfully, I haven't had a repeat of the great freezer defrost yet, but there's a high risk of it happening.)  I'm eating soup pretty much once a day though, so there should be room for another batch by the weekend.  I have both chickpeas and black beans in my cupboard, so stay tuned to see which recipe is next*.

*I know that this isn't really all that exciting, but it's January in Canada.  My life consists of eating, sleeping, working, studying, and bundling up in every piece of clothing I own to avoid freezing.  I'm aiming for things to be exciting again around March.