Butternut Squash Soup

Preheat oven to 425.

Cut butternut squash length-wise so it's cut evenly in half.

Remove seeds using a spoon or your fingers.

Poke holes in meat side of squash.

Salt and pepper the meat side liberally.

Drizzle half the olive oil over the squash

Place squash on a tray and roast meat side up for 1 hour.

While the squash is in oven, preheat a large pot to medium-high heat.

Add remaining olive oil to pot

Julienne onion. Size doesn't matter. Add to the pot and stir.

Cut celery and carrot. Again size doesn't matter.

Add salt and pepper and the bundle of tied up thyme.

Chop rosemary. Again size doesn't matter. But the smaller the better. And add to pot

Grate the nutmeg into a small dish and add to vegetables.

Saut the vegetables (mirepoix) for roughly 5 minutes until some color develops.

Add water and let simmer on med heat for about 45 min or so.

When the squash is done roasting let it rest for 10-15 min. By then the stock should be about ready. Turn it off.

The skin of the squash should peel off easily. Skin it and add to a blender. You might need to do half the squash depending on the size of the blender. If you only do half the squash only add half the stock with all the vegetables (take the thyme binder out before blending)

BE CAREFUL WHEN BLENDING!!! Blending hot ingredients may cause the soup to splatter out of the blender!!! Blend on slowest speed first then increase.

Blend all the ingredients. Depending on how thick you like it you might need to add more water. Same goes for salt and pepper. Try the soup before serving. It doesn't need any cream to make it creamy. It's hearty and creamy without any dairy.

On a last note I don't like to waste anything. Meaning those seeds that came from the squash are quite yummy. You can use them in the soup. Roast them at 300F until they get a little color or you can start to smell them while roasting.