In my effort to explore vegetables that I hadn't used before, I bought myself a beautiful butternut squash and a bulb of fennel. Never in my life had I cooked with these two before. I thought to myself, why not try to make a soup? It can't be that hard, right? And let me tell ya, it's so super easy.

 First, I roasted my veggies in the oven while I cooked up some homemade stock on the stove. This is also super easy. Into a sauce pot, I put in a few left over broccoli stalks, the scraps of the fennel (stalk, fronds), a slice of onion, a carrot cut into 4-5 pieces, salt and soy sauce to taste. Cover that with water and let it simmer for 2 hours. Homemade veggie stock makes a world of difference. For the roasted veggies, I had the butternut squash, fennel bulb, and a quarter of an onion, covered generously with olive oil, salt, and pepper.

Yield: 4 appetizer servings or 2 meal servings

Ingredients:
1/2 butternut squash, peeled and cubed
1 bulb of fennel, sliced
1/4 of an onion, chopped roughly
3 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp salt
2 tsp pepper
2 cloves of garlic
2 cups of stock (I used homemade, but you can use any low sodium stock)
Optional: 1 tbsp greek yogurt per serving and a couple fennel fronds

Directions:
1) Toss butternut squash, fennel and onion in 2 tbsp olive oil, salt, and pepper on a baking sheet covered with foil
2) Bake veggies at 425F for 25 minutes, or until fork tender
3) Sautee garlic in 1 tbsp olive oil on medium heat in a sauce pan until golden and fragrant
4) Add stock and roasted veggies to the saucepan
5) Bring to a simmer and let it simmer for 10 minutes
6) Transfer to a large bowl and blend until creamy and smooth with an immersion blender
7) Top with greek yogurt and fennel fronds
8) Enjoy!

Happy Butternut Squash Soup making
<3 TTT