Butternut Squash Soup

Simple ingredients yet this has a full, creamy flavor with no actual cream. In fact, the soup has no fat and is vegan. The chickpea topping adds a delicious, slightly sweet crunch but can be skipped if you want. This one is shockingly good and works well for holidays or dinner parties since it can hold in the crock pot for awhile.

Serves 6

Adapted from Two Peas and Their Pod. The photo is theirs.

Ingredients

For the soup:

• 1 medium yellow onion, chopped

• 2 carrots, peeled and chopped

• 1 medium apple, peeled and chopped

• 1 large butternut squash, peeled and chopped into 1" chunks

• 4 cups vegetable broth

• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon

• 1 tsp. ground cumin

• 1 Tbl. maple syrup (or brown sugar works if you don't have syrup)

• Salt & pepper to taste

For the chickpea topping (optional):

• 1 can chickpeas, rinsed

• 1 Tbl. olive oil

• 1 Tbl. brown sugar

• 1 Tbl. maple syrup

• 1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon

• 1/4 tsp. ground cumin

• Salt to taste

Instructions

1. Put the onion, carrots, apple and butternut squash into the slow cooker. Pour the vegetable broth over the top and cook on the low setting for 6 hours (or high setting for 2 hours). It can sit on warm for a few more hours until you're ready to finish it if needed.

2. If you have an immersion blender, use it to blend the soup to a smooth consistency (a few chunks are fine). If you don't have an immersion blender, you can use a regular blender. You'll need to blend the soup in batches and put it into a separate pot as you go.

3. Once all the soup is blended, stir in the cinnamon, cumin, maple syrup and add some salt and pepper to taste. Reheat it if necessary so you can serve it piping hot.

4. If making the chickpea topping, preheat the oven to 375 degrees while the soup is still cooking. Put the olive oil, brown sugar, maple syrup, cinnamon and salt in a bowl and stir until the brown sugar is mostly dissolved. Add the chickpeas and toss until they're well coated. Spread them out on a cookie sheet and place in the oven. Cook for about 30 minutes, tossing a few times until they're well browned and crispy. You can make them ahead if you want as they get crispier as they cool. Sprinkle some on top of each bowl of soup.