Roasted Butternut Squash Carrot Apple Soup

I was in Connecticut this weekend and desperately wanted to take advantage of the beautiful fall Sunday we were having.  I decided a trip to Bushy Hill Orchards for apple cider donuts was in order:

The farm store also had a lot of vegetables happening:

I wanted to buy multiples of everything, how amazing are all those peppers?!  But I limited myself to a butternut squash, a bunch of carrots, and a bag of apples with this recipe in mind:

Roasted Butternut Squash Carrot Apple Soup
you'll need:

• 1 butternut squash
• 2 small apples- I used Macoun
• 2 carrots
• 1 onion
• 1 clove of garlic
• Olive oil
• 4 cups vegetable broth
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/2 cup milk 

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.  Line a baking sheet with foil.

Slice your butternut squash in half lengthwise and scoop out the seeds.

Drizzle olive oil on the inside of the squash and lay open sides down on baking sheet.

Cut apples into cubes, slice carrots, and dice the onion.  

Peel the clove of garlic but do not chop.

Add apples, carrots, onion, and garlic to baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil.

Bake for 45 minutes.

When veggies are done roasting, scoop the butternut squash out of its peel and add to a large stockpot with the apples, onions, carrots, and garlic-- if using an immersion blender (if not add all of the roasted stuff to your regular blender).  

Add vegetable broth and milk to the pot/blender.

Blend soup until smooth.  If using a regular blender, be sure to remove the center plastic piece from the lid so that there is room for the heat to escape.  

If you haven't already, add soup to stock pot.

Stir in spices and then add bay leaf.  

Let simmer for 10-15 minutes for all of the flavors to blend together, then remove bay leaf.

I quickly toasted some home made croutons to serve with my soup. I popped them into the oven right after I took out the roasted stuff. Simply chop up some bread into cubes, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt.  Roast on a baking sheet for 10-15 minutes at 400 until golden brown.

Serve :)