First of all: I admit I’m late. Soup is more of a winter dish. And the recipe shared below is using an ingredient that is about to become unavailable: squash. Of if you prefer: pumpkin. Mix both a butternut squash and pumpkin to produce a delicious soup.

Regardless of the season, I find soup a brilliantly healthy, versatile, filling and satisfying snack. Just ate a bowl for breakfast after my Saturday run this morning! Soup also fits perfectly my intermittent fasting habit as my last, light meal of the day. Produce a thick and spicy soup, and you can accommodate it in a variety of ways.

In this case I feature pumpkin soup but my point applies to any other kind. Potato and leek. Vegetable mix. Carrot and cauliflower… vary and experiment my friends!

Fill like a sweet and light snack? Add oat milk and honey before warming up your bowl to make a lighter desert soup. Looking for a filling meal? Eat a side of toast, or add oatmeal flakes to your bowl of soup before microwaving it.

Last thing before diving in the recipe: soup also perfectly fits in my food-prepping system. Make a couple of liters of soup and you have a reserve for the whole week. You can even deep freeze part of it for later.

So, here it comes: a delicious pumpkin / butternut squash / carrot soup in a few simple steps…

Start with the standard base: chop onions, red peper and garlic, and warm that up with your preferred mix of dry spices like curry, ginger, turmeric, cumin, coriander, paprika… whatever you fancy. I like to keep it simple and usually stick to curry and turmeric. The end product looks prettier 😉

While the spice base gently warms up, chop the vegetables in cubes: pumpkin (peel it), butternut squash (no need to peel it!) and carrots (don’t you bother peeling them). Stir ’em in the pan, raise the heat a little and warm them up for a couple of minutes. I never weigh the ingredients but roughly use two thirds squash/pumpkin and one third carrots.

You now have done the heavy duty. While the vegetables are getting some direct heat – let them stick and caramelize a little – warm up a liter or so of water in a kettle, just to speed things up. Pour the boiling water in the pan to cover the vegetables. Add more if you prefer a watery soup.

I used to add one or more stock cubes (you know, the Maggi cubes). Not anymore!

The secret finishing touch: hazelnut butter. Or cashew butter. And of course salt and pepper. For a couple of liters of soup I add a tablespoon of nut butter. Please try this. Trust me, it gives an amazing flavor to this soup.

Thanks to restaurant Mûre and their recipe book (“La cuisine des gens qui sèment”) for this tip.

Almost done! Don’t cook the vegetables too long. Make sure you they are just tender to preserve their nutritional value. Pour the vegetables in a good blender (I’m very pleased with our Magimix power blender) and blitz the soup to a smooth consistency.

So, here you: a week or more of healthy snacks ahead of you. Enjoy!