No Soup For You!

Ahh...what a glorious Saturday here in St. Louis. There is nothing quite like waking up after winning the World Series...and I'm not even one of the Cardinals baseball players! It still feels surreal that after such a rollercoaster season and post-season that our beloved Cards are World Champions! It definitely feels awesome!

Yesterday at school I even cancelled my kiddos' homework (I changed it to "go home and watch the game with your family) and showed a clip from the Mythbusters "Baseball" Episode). Nothing like using the world series as a teachable moment!

I haven't posted a recipe on here in a while (I haven't been doing all that much cooking to be honest) but I wanted to share the FANTASTIC apple-cheddar-squash soup recipe that I made on Thursday night. It is a definite favorite in our house and since Kolby has been feeling under the weather, there is nothing like some delicious, warm soup to cure a nasty bug!

Here is the recipe-from, of course, Food Network.

Ingredients

• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 medium onion, thinly sliced
• 2 medium apples, thinly sliced
• 1 large white potato, diced
• 1 1/2 cups chopped peeled butternut squash, fresh or frozen
• Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon dried sage
• 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
• 1/3 cup apple cider (I did not use this and it tasted GREAT!)
• 4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 1 cup milk
• 2 ounces thinly sliced prosciutto, torn into bite-size pieces (We have used bacon in the past, but we didn't have any on hand so did without-tasted great without it as well)
• 2 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese, plus more for garnish
• 
  
• Melt 4 tablespoons butter in a large pot over medium-low heat and add the onion, apples, potato and squash. Season with salt and pepper and cook until the onion is soft, about 8 minutes. 
  
  
  
  Stir in the sage and flour. Add the cider and cook over high heat, stirring, until thickened. Add the broth and milk, cover and bring to a boil; reduce to a simmer and cook, stirring, until the potato is soft, 8 to 10 minutes.
  
  
  
  Meanwhile, heat the remaining 1 tablespoon butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the prosciutto and cook until crisp, turning occasionally, about 2 minutes. Drain on paper towels.- I didn't add this so I omitted this step.
  Add the cheese to the soup and stir over medium-low heat until melted. Puree in a blender (I used an immersion blender) in batches until smooth; season with salt and pepper. 
  
  
  
  You can garnish the soup with the prosciutto and cheddar cheese if you like, and serve with warm, crusty bread.
  
  
  
  This soup is incredible. The combination of squash, potato, apple, and cheddar rings the perfect "fall" note. The consistency is great, and the bread is absolutely delicious when you dip a piece of it into the soup. We felt like omitting the apple cider was a good idea, since it doesn't do all that much to the flavor, and even though the prosciutto or bacon is GREAT on top, it is fine without. Enjoy!