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I could list my top comfort food, it would be soup.

Although most any kind of soup will do, there is something particularly satisfying in a filling, starchy soup like one made of squash, or potato.

Oh, potato…so not trendy right now. But I love potato. Not shy sayin’ that.

AND … did you know that many dogs love squash?

Yep, your dog can eat, and digest, cooked squash!
The flesh, not the seeds or skin.

My dog Blue loves all kinds of squash. She’s funny though, she is just like a toddler when it comes to green things.

They sit there uneaten, in her bowl.

Or spit out onto the floor.

I found a love of butternut squash soup, made with roasted garlic, in my 20’s. Which is totally funny because my mom cooked mashed butternut squash with roasted onions, and I gagged my way through dinner.

Later, I ate fancy pants lunches, working in downtown Toronto, and appreciated food so much more. A roasted squash soup, or a tagliatelle made with squash and sage butter soon became my fav foods of the 80’s 🤣.

Squash is still one of my fav comfort foods.

Back then, I fell in love with sushi, (maybe my source of resonating chlonorchis, a liver fluke, which showed up on my Creating Balanced Health scan).
I also had a small love affair with Courvoisier, trying to look cool, and chic.

Bwahahahah.

That love affair long since died, along with my youthful affinity for substances like booze, which, incidentally, is not so good for my liver either!

Vitamin A is though, and you can find that in yellow squashes like the buttercup squash, used in this soup (Recipe below). Some squash have magnesium, calcium and iron as well. All minerals we need in our menopause years.

Squash like this one contains provitamin A, which is a carotenoid. We generally think of beta-carotene for Vitamin A, but we also have alpha-carotene and beta-cryptoxanthin, which our body makes into Vitamin A.

Vitamin A, along with phytonutrients like beta-carotene, beta-cryptoxanthin, and squalene are great for your skin. Squalene is part of our lipid profile in our skin, and well, the skin takes a significant hit in some of us after 30 years of age. Squalene is a precursor to steroid hormones, and Vitamin D.

All forms of Vitamin A are metabolized in the gut, which is like, the nightclub of the body. Everything seems to happen in the gut! But it isn’t like Vegas, what happens in the gut leaks OUT of the gut.

Want to boost your Vitamin A? Eat sweet potato, or add some to the soup! You can swap out sweet potato for the carrots, too.

You can also eat liver. Nah, I didn’t think so.

This soup is much more pleasing to the eye than THAT item. And enjoying your food is a very important aspect of life, especially at menopause!

Vitamin A is a vitamin we need everywhere!

Squash also provides resistant starch for the beneficial gut bacteria to chow down on! Although I talk about ways to help your gut WITHOUT food, we still need fibre and resistant starch to feed the good bugs hanging out in the nightclub of the body.

This soup contains turmeric, that yellow, happy, anti-inflammatory spice, who needs black pepper and fat to drive it into our cells.

Here’s how I made my Buttercup Squash Soup, with Turmeric and Smoked Paprika!

Grab:

1 medium buttercup squash 

2 tablespoons ghee, coconut oil, 
butter or a fat you like

2 cups leeks, whatever parts you like, green or  white

2 large carrots, chopped

2 stalks celery, chopped

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1, 1 inch knob of ginger, peeled, chopped

½ teaspoons each cardamom, cinnamon, & turmeric (add more turmeric if you like, or more of any of these!)

½-1 teaspoon smoked paprika

4-5 cups (or so, depending on the consistency you like) of stock (again, your choice of stock, veggie or other)

1-2 tsp salt

Black pepper, to taste

Then:

1.    Preheat oven to 350° F. Cut the squash in half, and scoop out the seeds. Place cut side down in a casserole dish and add water to ½ inch.
I can’t do centimeters, sorry 🙃 Cook until softened.

2.    In a stockpot, melt the ghee (or whatever fat you chose), then add leeks, carrots, celery, garlic and ginger. Add the dry spices and stir for 5 minutes, until fragrant. 

3.    Meanwhile, scrape the cooked flesh of the squash out, and set aside.

4.   Add stock, and simmer until all veggies start softening. Add the squash and cook just a few minutes more to blend flavors and make sure all is cooked.

5.  Adjust the taste with Salt and Pepper.

6.  Blend in your blender, carefully, as it is HOT. Maybe let that soup cool a bit! You can always use a hand blender, but it will be chunkier.

😊 Optional add-ins:

Maple syrup if you like sweetness, add a splash.
Sour cream.
Coconut cream.
Orange zest.
Parsley, chopped and sprinkled.
Pumpkin Seeds.
Walnuts.

Makes roughly 8 cups :)

Share your soup pictures and tag me with your
add-ins on Facebook or Instagram! I am always looking for new soup toppings!

Also, if you find you struggle with menopausal cravings, and are sick of dieting, download my Conscious Cravings Guide here!