Winter Soup: Yam and Butternut Squash

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The holidays are behind us and the new year ahead. What to do after a season of overeating and overindulging? Start it off by loading up on healthy meals! One great way to get your veggies in along with lots of vitamins and nutrients is soup. Not to mention that its still cold out there and nothing satisfies like a hot bowl of soup with a side of crusty bread.  Here’s one chock full of colorful veggies, protein filled chickpeas and more!!!

  • 1 butternut squash
  • 1 large yam
  • 1 onion
  • 1 leek
  • 10 cups vegetable stock
  • 4 large red potatoes cubed (soaked and drained)
  • 1 large yam cubed (soaked and drained)
  • 1 can chickpeas (drained and soaked)
  • 4 tablespoons of maple syrup
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1/2 to 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon a pepper
  • 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Cut squash in half and remove seeds. Rub inside of both squash halves with oil and roast for 45 minutes.

Roast whole bulb of garlic for 30 minutes. Add oil to pot and turn burner to low. Julienne onion, dice leek, and add to pot. Cook on low for as long as possible without burning. 15 to 30 minutes.

Cube yam and potatoes and place in a bowl of water. Soak for 10 minutes to remove starch.

Once onions have caramelized, add vegetable stock to pot. Add potatoes and yam.

Rinse and soak chickpeas in water for 10 minutes and bring soup to a boil.

Drain and add chickpeas. Add salt, pepper, cinnamon, and maple syrup.

When garlic has finished roasting, peel it and add to soup. When butternut squash has finished roasting, scoop squash from peel into the soup.

Simmer soup for 30 minutes or until potatoes and yam are soft. Stirring occasionally.

Remove from heat and blend soup in the pot with a hand blender. Once smooth and creamy, let soup cook for a few more minutes.

Add more maple syrup, salt, and pepper if needed. To make it spicy, add 1/ 8 to 1/4 teaspoon of cayenne pepper.

Serve with garlic toast and garnish with a sprinkle of cayenne, parsley, or both.

4 thoughts on “Winter Soup: Yam and Butternut Squash”

    1. Yes, it does sound and look great. As you might remember, I’m brand-new at a ‘plant-based’ way of eating and especially cooking beans. I haven’t seriously tried to compare, but was assuming that dried beans would be much less expensive than canned (+ no processing into the cans in 1st place which wouldn’t that be a big plus too?) so kind of surprised to see so many recipes calling for canned rather than dried beans. What would you suggest for substituting dried—soaking/cooking until almost done 1st b4 adding? Do you know the equivalent of dried to a can of cooked? THANKS!

      1. Ooops, think I replied to Mitchell’s instead of just replying to the article. Meant as a general comment, not specifically asking the person making the comment. :)

      2. That’s a good point. I think a lot of recipes call for canned for the sake of convenience, but dried beans are definitely cheaper and you can control how much added salt is in the pot!

        I’d soak and then fully cook the dried beans before using them to replace canned. 1 3/4 to 2 cups of cooked beans seems about right to replace a can of beans.

        Since different beans will absorb water differently, I’m not sure there’s a rule of thumb for converting dried to canned, but that’s an excellent question! If anyone knows of any resources, share away!

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