Looks like I’ll be cooking for one a lot in the next days, or weeks. My daughter went to visit my mom and it doesn’t seem like she’s in a hurry to come back and my son, well, he’s barely ever home anymore. That’s what happens when kids grow up. They tend to have a life, you know…

Cooking for one is a challenge in itself. A challenge that I look at positively though, for it allows me to experiment with ingredients that I wouldn’t otherwise dare… I wouldn’t want my kids to leave me indefinitely, you see… at least, not yet!

I think tonight’s dish definitely falls in that category. None of them would have been too impressed with my choice of ingredients for the soup that I made. See, I had some sweet potatoes that really needed to be eaten, so I decided to steam them and make some mini breads.But I had way too much and ended up with probably 2 cups left. I figured if I mixed that with  roasted acorn squash and added an onion, some chicken stock and a few spices, that it would make a very decent soup. And I was soooooo right! It made an incredibly decent soup. So nice, soft and creamy, I would even say silky. And the taste! Even better than I expected. A little bit on the sweet side, yet not too sweet, with a subtle touch of cinnamon and nutmeg. Plus, the pecans that I used as garnish did so much for it too. I’m really glad I have some leftover!

What I am not glad about though is that I didn’t measure anything. Still, I’ll try and retrace my steps. It’s not like I used a million ingredients. It shouldn’t be that hard to eyeball it. And the results should be pretty similar. Let’s give it a shot, shall we?

Ingredients
(serves 2-3)

  • About 2 cups steamed sweet potatoes
  • The flesh of 1 roasted acorn squash
  • 1 onion, diced
  • 1 garlic clove, crushed
  • ½ tsp salted herbs
  • 3 cups chicken stock (use vegetable if you want to keep this vegetarian friendly)
  • ½ cup low fat sour cream
  • Pinch 4 spice (nutmeg, ginger, clove, pepper)
  • Pinch cinnamon

Garnish

  • Chopped pecans and
  • Chopped flat leaf parlsey
  • Dollop low fat sour cream

Instructions

  • Cut acorn squash in half, remove seeds and roast flesh side down in a 375 oF oven for about 40 minutes, or until tender.
  • Peel, dice and steam sweet potatoes for about 7 minutes
  • In saucepan, brown onion and garlic. Add cooked potatoes and squash and cook for 2-3 minutes. Add salted herbs, 4 spice, cinnamon and chicken stock. Bring to a boil then simmer for 5 minutes.
  • Purée the soup in a food processor. Return to saucepan and add sour cream. Stir to combine.
  • Serve and garnish with a dollop of sour cream, chopped pecans and flat leaf parsley.