Spicy Butternut Squash Soup

In honor of Jenn @ Eating Bender's Secret Blogger Ingredient contest, I made my butternut squash soup! I made this for the first time last fall and loved it, but this time I decided to give it a spicy twist with some ground red pepper! The most time-consuming part of this recipe is the food prep of the squash and chopping/peeling everything, but once that is down, it is easy! This is a thicker soup, but has no cream and it over all pretty healthy! Here it goes...

Ingredients:

• 1 large butternut squash, peeled, seeded and chopped
• 3 small sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped
• 1 medium red potato, peeled and chopped
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 4 stalks of celery, chopped
• 3 medium carrots, peeled and chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 T light butter
• 1 T Extra virgin olive oil
• 1 32 ounce container of chicken stock (you may need more)
• fresh ground pepper (as much as you like)
• sea salt (about a teaspoon)
• fresh ground red pepper (about a teaspoon)
• plain non-fat greek yogurt (I used 0% fage)

Picture of most of the ingredients...
To prepare the butternut squash, I first peeled it, then poked it with a fork a bunch of times before sticking it into the microwave for about 3 mins. Then, I chopped in half and cleaned out all the seed, which remind of the guts in a pumpkin! Then I got to chopping and peeling and chopping and peeling and chopping and peeling all of the veggies that go into this dish! It is a great way to clean out a bunch of stuff you have sitting around!

Here are all the veggies in my big pot mixed with the butter, olive oil, and all spices. These cooked up over medium high heat about 5-10 mins until they got a little brown and were starting to steam.Then I poured the chicken stock over the veggies, so that it just about covered everything. I had to add a little more than a full 32 ounce container, which luckily i had on hand, but if this happens, you could just add some water or wine - both I am sure would be fine.I covered the pot and let it simmer about 30 mins, until everything was nice and tender. Then I took my handy dandy hand mixer (which I think my old roommate/friend, Carolyn, may have left, by accident. Carolyn - is this yours? Do you want it back? ;) sorry I am just telling you now after like 2 years.) So anyways, I turned off the heat and then mixed everything together until it was a nice thick consistency. I like mine thick, but if you like it a little thinner - add more chicken stock or milk to make it creamy! There is really so much you could do with this...
And if you didnt steal a very nice cuisinart hand mixer from a friend - you could also stick this all in a blender or food processor - lots of things would work. Oh and season/taste as you go to enjoy you get the level of spiciness/flavor you are looking for.

To serve, top with a spoonful of greek yogurt and a sprinkle of red pepper and ENJOY!