Farmer's Market Vegetable Soup

As I spent the day contemplating all the recipes that I could incorporate all of these amazing apples we picked, I went in a different direction for dinner tonight - HAHA!  Instead I remembered that Lana had asked me to make my grandmother's homemade vegetable soup but I was out of some of the ingredients and had others I wanted to incorporate.  The outcome was a success so as I try to do as often as possible, I wanted to share the recipe with all of you!

Butternut squash oh how I love thee, but I sure do hate all the prep work to get to the good stuff!  In this recipe I did all the peeling, cleaning and chopping for tonight AND tomorrow nights dinner.  Half of an average sized butternut squash went into the soup and half I roasted in the oven to a yummy carmelized ingredient for tomorrow nights apple, sausage and butternut squash pasta with sage.  I'll post that recipe for tomorrow's dinner later tonight or tomorrow:

Farmer's Market Vegetable Soup

3 medium leeks (dark green part discarded, cut remaining in half then slice thin and put in a bowl with cold water and swirl with your hand - leeks are very sandy and need to be cleaned more so than onions or other root vegetables, then drain)
3 TBSP unsalted butter or butter substitute
3 carrots, peeled and chopped
pinch of sugar
3 tender inner stalks of celery, thinkly slices
2 medium Yukon gold potatoes, cubed
half of a medium butternut squash,peeled; cleaned; cubed (about a cup and a half)
2 riped tomatoes, cored and seeded and chopped (or 1 can of diced tomatoes)
3 cups vegetable stock
1 bay leaf
salt and pepper
1 TBSP fresh chopped Italian parsley
(option for a creamy soup is add 1/4 C heavy cream or half and half or slightly more to taste)

Melt butter in heavy pot, add the leeks, carrots and dash of sugar.  Saute over medium heat for 5 minutes.  Stir in celery, potatoes, tomatoes and butternut squash to coat and add vegetable stock and bay leaf. Season with salt and pepper and bring to a boil.  Cover and reduce heat to simmer until veggies are tender, about 30 minutes.  Using a potato masher, crush the vegies some so the soup thickens some.  If you are using the option of cream, remove the bay leaf and add cream, taste for seasoning and adjust if needed.  Stir in parsley.

We don't use the cream since Izzy is sensitive but I have a friend that prefers creamier soups and adds this. 

SHAR makes a very good parbaked baguette that you cook for 10 minutes and adds a nice crunch or you can cut into crostini slices and bake in over at 350 for 10 minutes with a little olive oil, salt and pepper and you have a great dipping treat.