Lately, we’ve been really into soup and have really enjoyed this recipe for Kale Acorn Squash Soup. Kale is packed with a lot of great nutrients your body needs and so it can be a valuable part of your diet. And we love cooking with acorn squash!
In February our house is filled with temptation. Two kid birthdays which are sure to include pizza and our Heavenly Heath Bar Cake. Plus, there’s Valentine’s Day which usually results in an influx of sugary treats and usually one or two homemade treats like our Dark Chocolate Pecan Bark. We try to limit our sugar intake, of course, but it’s hard. Birthdays and holidays are a time of celebration and (at least in our house) that often involves decadent food. And that’s okay…as long as you remember to bring your diet back into balance. For us that means balancing the birthday and holiday decadence with days of nutritious eating and exercise. This Kale Acorn Squash Soup is one of the nutritious meals we use to find that balance.
Kale has been shown to provide some great nutritional benefits.
The Inspiration for Kale Acorn Squash Soup
Back around Thanksgiving, one of our favorite local farmers was having a last weekend of the Farmer’s Market special where all winter squashes were only $1! How can you resist that? I couldn’t. I broke out the biggest bags I had and filled them up with Butternut, Acorn, Carnival Squash. After using half of them pretty quickly, I then roasted and froze the rest to pull out and put in things like our stuffed shells and soup, of course.
The original inspiration for this soup came from 101 Cookbooks Green Soup with Ginger which I made several years ago. It’s a pretty amazing soup. The greens in our soup are just the kale I found at our winter farmer’s market. Once it gets a little warmer, I’m hoping to find chard and spinach to try it again. If you don’t have roasted squash, you can always sub in cooked sweet potato. We made this soup with our crockpot chicken stock, but it can be made vegan by using your favorite vegetable broth instead.
It’s Gluten Free and Paleo!
This soup is gluten free and paleo because we made our own homemade broth which allowed us to control the ingredients. If you buy your broth at the store and our interested in keeping the recipe gluten free and paleo they are not specifically labeled as such then you just need to read the label carefully!
On to the recipe:
Ingredients
- 1 T . coconut oil
- 1 onion , chopped
- 3 cloves garlic , minced
- 1 T . fresh ginger , minced
- 3 c . chopped kale (stems removed)
- 4 c . broth
- 2 roasted acorn squash
- salt and pepper
- Juice from one lemon
Instructions
- Melt coconut oil in pan.
- Add onions and cook on medium for 5-6 minutes.
- Add garlic and ginger and cook for 2 more minutes.
- Add kale and saute until dark green and wilted, about an addition 3-4 minutes.
- Add broth and acorn squash.
- Bring to a simmer and cook for 5 minutes.
- Use an immersion blender to thoroughly blend soup.
- Add lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste.
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