Winter is upon us, and savory homemade soups are always welcoming and cozy. This one is thick and creamy, and perfect served with thick slices of toasted and buttered sourdough bread, or your bread of choice. I make a home-made chicken broth, from the bones of a rotisserie chicken, covered with water and simmered in a crock pot with a splash of pickle juice. I usually simmer the bone anywhere from 12 – 24 hours in a slow cooker. If you don’t have dill pickle juice, you can use a tablespoon or two of apple cider vinegar or regular white vinegar. My favourite vinegar to use is dill pickle juice, but sweet pickle juice is fine as well. The vinegar in the pickle juice helps to pull the nutrients out of the bones and into the bone broth you are making.
My garden produced a lot of spaghetti squash, and this is a great way to use them. Spaghetti Squash is low in calories, high in water, with the added bonus of beneficial fiber, making it an ideal food for weight loss and boosting metabolism. Spaghetti squash contains only 40 calories per cup. Spaghetti squash contains many nutrients including, potassium, calcium, vitamins C, K, A, and several B vitamins including B1, B3, B5, and B6. Carrots are an excellent source of beta-carotene, for eyes and lung health. In fact, each ingredient in this soup is full of unique health benefits. I enjoy this recipe as a soup as is, but I have also poured it on pasta, for a sauce, and mashed potatoes for an interesting gravy. Even though it only has a small amount of ginger, the ginger really adds a lot of depth to the flavour.
Spaghetti Squash and Ginger Soup
1 spaghetti squash
1 onion, chopped
1 cup carrots, chopped
1 cup celery chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tomato, chopped
5 cups chicken broth
1 teaspoon fresh ginger, grated
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon poultry seasoning
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
Cut the squash in half, remove the seeds, and bake on a sheet pan at 350 degrees until it is soft and cooked. In a heavy-bottomed pot, sauté the onion and garlic, until softened. Add into the pot the chicken broth, carrots, celery, tomato, ginger, pepper, poultry seasoning, onion powder, and garlic powder. Reserve the salt, and add to taste at the end, based on how salty the chicken broth is. The amount of salt in this recipe is based on homemade unsalted chicken broth. Cook all the ingredients until the carrots are soft. Add in the cooked spaghetti squash flesh, (not the skin). Using an immersion blender, blend the soup, until smooth and creamy. Taste, and add the required amount of salt. Enjoy.
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