Butternut Spiced Soup

It is that time of year again when the weather is cooling down and everything is about pumpkins and spice and everything nice! One of my favorite things about the fall season is the abundant variety of squash in the produce isle at the grocery store. Winter squash is like art in the form of vegetable, and as fun as it is to decorate the home for fall with them, sometimes I wonder what else I can do with them besides the simple bake it and eat it method. I am sure I can't be the only one with this problem so I have decided to share my recipe with you all: Butternut Spiced Soup, the perfect food to provide a warm, comforting taste of Fall.

Ingredients:
1 butternut squash, peeled and diced
2 celery stalks, finely chopped
1/2 an onion, finely chopped
3 or 4 carrots, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
a handful of fresh parsley
rubbed sage
ground cloves
ground ginger
ground cinnamon
chicken stock or salt

Directions:
In a large soup pot, combine squash, celery, onion, garlic, and carrots. Cover with water* until about an inch above the ingredients. Boil until the vegetables are soft. Carefully scoop out about half of the soup contents including the water into a blender with the parsley (if you have a pyrex measuring pitcher with a handle I recommend using that to scoop out the hot soup) and blend until smooth. Pour contents from the blender back into the soup pot. Add about 1/2 tsp rubbed sage, 1/8 tsp ground cloves, 1/2 tsp ginger, and 1/2 tsp cinnamon. Salt with chicken stock or plain old salt to taste and let the soup simmer for about 5 to ten minutes.

*for thicker soup or bisque add less water or blend all ingredients. You can always add more water if the soup gets too thick.