Butternut Squash Soup
(Recipe by Brenda and Taylor Sands)

Ingredients

1 large butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and chopped
1 clove fresh garlic, minced
1 large onion,
coarsely chopped
butter or margarine
olive oil
1 cup chicken broth
half & half
milk
ground allspice
1 dash salt    
1 dash pepper
1 tbsp. sugar
sour cream (thinned
with milk)
fresh parsley
 

Method

In soup pot, sauté onions in butter or margarine and a little olive oil until they start to become translucent. Add minced garlic, and continue to sauté another minute or two. Add about 1 cup chicken broth, chopped squash, 1 to 2 dashes of ground allspice (until it smells fragrant, but not too strong), 1 tablespoon sugar, and a little salt and pepper to pot with sautéed onions and garlic.  Bring back to simmer and cover. Let simmer until squash is tender and fork inserts easily.  Remove from heat and let cool a bit.
   
Use a hand masher to coarsely mash up squash, leaving plenty of small chunks. Set aside about ¼ to ¹∕³ coarsely mashed squash mixture. Place rest of cooked mixture in a blender and puree in blender until very smooth, adding a combination of some milk and some half & half to facilitate blending. Add pureed mixture back to pot with coarsely mashed squash mixture. Stir together and add any desired combination of more milk, half & half, and chicken broth until soup reaches preferred consistency. Warm up soup on medium low heat, stirring frequently to avoid scorching. Check for seasoning. If necessary, add seasoning (salt, pepper, sugar) to taste.

Put soup into bowls. With a spoon, drop swirls of thinned sour cream onto soup surface, and add tufts of fresh parsley to each bowl. Serve with a warm crusty loaf of bread and a garden or spinach salad.