Bitter as it is, this kid (sometimes!) will eat fresh fenugreek by the handfuls. And when he’s not so inclined, we give a pep talk about feeding the good gut bugs and that in order to eat sweets and stay healthy, we need to balance it with bitters that help clean our insides.
There are so many ways to make butternut soup exciting. Here’s the quickest, simplest, kid friendliest one I can think of AND it uses one of my favorite bitter microgreens (fenugreek, such good medicine!) to balance out the sweetness of the butternut—
Ingredients:
1 medium-sized butternut squash
2 cups prepared veggie broth or 2 cups water and one cube veggie bouillon
1 can of coconut milk (13.5 oz)
1 tbs onion powder
2 tbs fresh ginger (grated)
salt and pepper to taste
fresh fenugreek
green onions (chopped)
lemon
Instructions:
The Butternut Squash—
You can either cut it up into slices in a hurry (the thinner, the quicker it cooks through) and put in a pan with a little oil, a splash of water and a well-fitting lid to cook about 10 minutes until soft. The downside to this is that you need to scrape the cooked butternut off of each slice afterwards if you want the soup to be smooth.
or
Cut it in half, scoop the seeds out and roast it on a baking sheet at 400 degrees for about 40 minutes until soft. My new discovery—You don’t really need oil to do this (although, the crispiness of a little olive oil on top is delicious). Cover with foil if you want it to soften faster. Overall, this method takes longer but scooping the butternut out is a lot faster than scraping it slice by slice. And you’re free to do other things for the 40 minutes it takes to bake.
In a pot, add the cooked butternut squash (scooped out with no peel), broth or water and veggie bouillon, coconut milk, onion powder, grated ginger, salt and pepper. Mash with a potato masher (or use an immersion blender) and stir until smooth.
Top with fresh fenugreek microgreens, chopped green onions and a squeeze of lemon juice