It’s blanket, sweater, and soup season……I love fall with it’s chilly mornings, colorful leaves, smiling pumpkins and football games. Wearing warm sweaters and getting cozy under a blanket with a hot cup of tea or soup is like coming home.

Campbell’s does a fabulous job depicting that cozy at home feeling in their commercials, making you want to eat soup, Campbell’s soup of course!  As appealing as they make it look, I was never a big fan of soups.  They just didn’t satisfy me.  Maybe because there wasn’t enough protein or healthy fat in the soup, two things that make a complete meal. And I’m a meal kinda gal!  If we stop to think about it – it’s actually pretty cool – those messages from our body trying to tell us something.  With soup, my body was saying, nope just not cutting it, something is missing.

So, today I like making my own soups and adding those missing ingredients so that I’m not left wanting more or hankering to stick my hand in the cookie jar!  Today’s blog shares one of those recipes with you.  It is my version of creamy butternut squash soup.

What I’ve done is add some spaghetti squash to give it a more complex flavor and downplay the sweetness of the butternut squash a bit.  Adding some coconut milk (healthy fat) and crab (protein) creates a droolingly good soup while leaving you content, curbing any post meal sugar cravings.

This soup not only tastes amazingly delicious, but also has some notable health benefits. Both squashes contain antioxidants like vitamin C, beta-carotene and fiber making them known for boosting the immune system, heart health and they also serve as a natural anti-inflammatory.  What’s your favorite winter soup recipe?  Leave me a comment below with your soup story 

Winter Squash Soup with Jumbo Lump Crab

1 small/medium butternut squash
1 small/medium spaghetti squash
6-8 cups vegetable or chicken broth
2 tablespoons coconut oil
1 medium onion, peeled and chopped
1 clove garlic, peeled and minced
1 gala apple, peeled, seeded and sliced
1/2 -3/4 cup coconut milk, unsweetened
2 cups cup jumbo lump crab meat, rinsed well to remove any shells
1/2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
pinch cayenne pepper

Preheat oven to 400.  Slice squashes in half and remove seeds.  Place in baking dishes flesh side down and bake for 45 minutes until soft and cooked.  Set aside.  May be cooked ahead, refrigerated or frozen and reheated when making soup.

Place oil in a saucepan over medium high heat.  Melt then add the onion.  Cook until onion is tender and translucent.  Add garlic cooking 2 more minutes.  Add apple and cook until tender.  Pour in broth and heat for 3-5 minutes.  Add squash to pan and blend using an immersion blender or transfer all ingredients to a food processor and blend until smooth.  Stir in coconut milk and crab and adjust seasoning to your liking, adding more milk as needed.

Makes 6 servings.  Can be frozen to eat later, adding crab meat upon serving.