A few weeks ago, we were invited to attend a farm dinner hosted by Ryan and Allison of Dirt Rich Farm. Needless to say, it was a wonderful gathering of interesting people in a gorgeous country setting. Of course there also was a lot of great food to nibble on, including some amazing desserts.

For the “bring a side dish to share” part I had stuffed a turban squash with a ratatouille-like roasted vegetable mixture. Anytime a vegetable gets stuffed, the insides are left over. In order to not waste any of the delicious, golden yellow squash meat I made a soup out of it.

I do make some variation of squash soup fairly regularly! These soups are quick, easy, inexpensive, loaded with lots of nutrition and full of vegetables. Especially if you use what’s in season.

To change the flavors up a bit every so often, try a red or yellow Thai curry paste, an Indian curry powder or even a Middle Eastern spice blend like Baharat. All of these are yummy!

And if you happen to have some baby spinach in the fridge, add it at the last minute to the soup! It not only is tasty, but also pretty to look at!

Here’s the recipe:

• about 4 to 5 cups of winter squash, peeled and cubed
• 1 cups of red lentils, sorted, rinsed well and drained
• vegetable broth or water
• dried chipotle to taste ( I used 5 for a fairly spicy soup)
• olive oil
• a few cloves of chopped fresh garlic
• about 4 cups of mixed vegetables like summer squash, yellow and red bell peppers,
  green onions, corn, red onion, tomatoes, etc.
• sea salt
• freshly ground black pepper
• a squeeze or two of fresh lemon juice

Place your winter squash into a big soup pot along with the red lentils and the chipotle peppers.
Add the vegetable broth to cover everything and bring to a boil.
Turn down the heat and simmer gently for about 45 minutes or until lentils and squash start to fall apart.
When the winter squash is tender purée everything until smooth and creamy.

While the soup is cooking, wash, then chop the vegetables into small bite-size pieces.
Heat a heavy pan over high heat and add a little olive oil.
Add the vegetables to the hot pan and stir-fry them over high heat until crisp and fragrant.

Add the vegetable sauté to the winter squash broth.
Simmer for another 10 minutes until everything is tender and piping hot.
Taste and adjust seasoning.
Add the fresh lemon juice right before serving.

Enjoy!