Butternut Squash Soup

An unbelievably delicious soup. Perfect comfort food! Takes about an hour to cook, but super easy to make.

Ingredients:
Serves 4

• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 650g butternut squash, cut in 2cm cubes
• 3 thyme sprigs
• 2 garlic cloves, halved
• 2 medium leeks, white and pale green parts cut into 2cm pieces
• 1 celery rib, diced
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 100g bacon cubes (omit for vegetarian)
• 2 handfuls kale, roughly chopped
• 1 can pinto beans (about 400g, can also be substituted with other beans such as black beans)
• 1 medium carrot, finely diced
• 1 red bell pepper, finely diced
• 1 cup sweet corn
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp paprika powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper

Directions:
Heat the vegetable oil in a large, heavy pot. Combine, squash, thyme, garlic, leeks and celery. Cook for 2-3 minutes, then add the broth and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer over low heat for about 40 minutes, or until the vegetables are tender. 

Discard the thyme sprigs from the soup and puree the soup with a blender. Add the kale, beans, carrot, bell pepper and corn. Season with salt, pepper, the garlic powder and paprika powder, and bring to a boil. Simmer over moderately low heat, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are tender, about 15 minutes. 

During the last 5 minutes of cooking, put the bacon cubes in a skillet and cook over moderately high heat, until crisp. Once the soup is ready, serve, and garnish with the bacon cubes. 

Adapted from Original Recipe