This warm and mildly spicy soup is creamy and comforting, making it the perfect meal for keeping warm as the weather changes. Pictured here with toasted naan bread and a dollop of plain Greek yogurt for some added protein. Note: You can keep the recipe vegetarian by omitting the shrimp.

 Prep time: 15 minutes; Cook time: 4-8 hours

Makes 6-8 servings

Ingredients

• 1 medium (approx 3 lbs) uncooked butternut squash, peeled, seeded and roughly chopped
• 2 cups vegetable stock
• 2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
• 2 large carrots, peeled and diced
• 1 apple, cored and diced
• 2 tsp each dried sage and thyme
• 1 white onion, diced
• 1/2 teaspoon salt, or more to taste
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly-ground black pepper, or more to taste
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne, or more to taste (be careful – it’s spicy!)
• pinch of ground cinnamon and nutmeg
• 1/2 cup canned (unsweetened) coconut milk
• Optional: peeled, raw baby shrimp

Instructions

1. Add vegetable stock, garlic, carrot, apple, squash, sage, thyme, onion, salt, pepper, cayenne, cinnamon and nutmeg to a slow cooker. Mix well.
2. Cook for 6-8 hours on low, or 3-4 hours on high, or until the squash is completely tender and mashes easily with a fork.  Stir in the coconut milk.
3. Use an immersion blender to puree the soup until smooth.  (Or you can transfer the soup in two batches into a traditional blender, and puree until smooth, being very careful when working with the hot liquid.) If using shrimp, transfer pureed soup back into slow cooker, add shrimp and cook on high for an additional 30 minutes until shrimp is pink and cooked through.
4. Taste, and season with additional salt, pepper and cayenne if needed. Serve warm.

Click here for a printable PDF version of this recipe.