Hearty Butternut Squash Soup

Photo by Taste of Home

A dear friend recently sent me the link to this recipe: Hearty Butternut Squash Soup.  Her neighbor had made the soup and shared a steaming bowlful with her.  Wasn't that nice?

When I read the recipe, I wanted to try it right away, but didn't have a lot of time.  I decided to try substituting frozen pureed squash for the fresh butternut (which is to be cooked and pureed) called for in the recipe.  I used 2 boxes of the frozen.  I made some other changes, too.  I used cut-up smoked sausage instead of Italian, and I used a can of the crisp and sweet whole kernel corn (a specific variety of corn which I buy in a store brand -- it has no sugar, but is just a crisp and sweet variety of corn) rather than frozen corn.  Also, I did not puree the soup at any stage in the preparation.  Of course, the squash was already in a pureed state.  I find that I invariably make a mess pureeing hot soup in a blender, and I thought this recipe would be just fine without doing so.

And it was.  It was delicious.  I tried it out on company last Monday night and they loved it.  So did we.  With the orange, red and yellow colors, it's a perfect autumn soup!