Thai-inspired Butternut Squash Soup

Even though it's still a little warm here, I've decided I've waited long enough to start enjoying some fall dishes. I've had this recipe sitting on stand-by just waiting for it to get cool enough to make. While, that moment hasn't come yet which means I made it anyways. The perfect thing about this recipe is that it can be made in your crock-pot. Meaning, I don't have to heat up my whole house to make it!

This will definitely be a recipe that I will make again. It was amazing. It was creamy, spicy (when I added the Sriracha), hearty, and it just screamed fall. Which was exactly what I was looking for. I loved it so much that instead of freezing the leftovers for later (like I'd originally planned) I ate the leftovers that week. It was an easy recipe to make and you can make it even more so by using pre-cut squash. I, however, bought a fresh squash and peeled and cubed it. While it wasn't hard, I could see the appeal of buying pre-cut squash if you just don't feel like messing with it. Unfortunately for me, my grocery store didn't have any pre-cut squash at the time.

The one downside to making this dish is that you can't just toss it in your slow cooker before heading to work. There is a step where you need to cook the squash in the slow cooker and blend it to make the base for the soup before adding all the other ingredients. So, I suppose if you wanted to, you could cook the squash and vegetables the night before, store it in the refrigerator, and then the morning of just dump it into the slow cooker and let it do it's thing on low until you get back.

recipe adapted from Kalyn's Kitchen

• 2 lbs. peeled and cubed butternut squash 
• 1 cup vegetable stock (vegetable broth in a can is fine) 
• salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste 
• 2 tsp. olive oil 
• 1 onion, finely chopped 
• 2 tsp. minced garlic (minced garlic from a jar is fine) 
• 1 tsp. minced ginger root (pureed ginger from a jar is fine) 
• 1 red bell pepper, seeds removed and finely chopped 
• 1 can (14 oz.) light Thai Coconut Milk 
• 4 Tbsp Thai Red Curry Paste 
• 1/4cup natural peanut butter (without added sugar) 
• 1 Tbsp. brown sugar (optional)
• 1 fresh-squeezed lime juice
• 1/3 cup chopped cilantro 
• Sriracha Rooster Sauce for serving 

1. Peel the butternut squash and cut into cubes. Put the squash and vegetable stock into the slow cooker, season squash generously with fresh-ground black pepper, and cook on high for 2 hours, or until the squash is soft enough to mash easily.  When it's soft, use a food processor, blender, or immersion blender to puree the squash, being careful with the hot food.
2. Add the coconut milk, Thai Red Curry Paste, brown sugar (if using) and peanut butter to the slow cooker and blend until incorporated. 
3. Heat the oil in a large non-stick frying pan, add onion and saute until translucent, about 5 minutes.  Add the minced garlic, minced ginger, and diced red bell pepper and saute about a minute more.  
4. Stir the vegetable mixture into the pureed squash, turn slow cooker to low and cook for 1 hour more (I left mine on low for a few hours while I ran errands)
5. Stir in the chopped cilantro and fresh lime juice and cook about 15 minutes more.
6. Serve hot, garnished with more chopped cilantro if desired.  For a little spice, drizzle Sriracha Sauce on top.