Butternut squash and stilton soup

In my opinion the easiest way to get veg into kids is to make lots of simple homemade veggie soups. This simple soup has celery, onion, carrot and squash in, not to mention garlic which is great for boosting immune systems. Yes, it has stilton in, but you’ll be surprised how little it tastes like stilton – instead it just gives a salty and creamy edge and a richness. My daughter loved it. I find most kids like soups, for some reason. The act of dipping bread in seems to appeal. This one’s silky, smooth, probably one of the best soups I’ve ever made. Perfect for an Autumn lunch.

Soup making is so easy. If you don’t have a blender, which is what I use, then you can get a hand blender stick one quite cheaply, like this hand blender from Amazon. There are some kitchen tools that are worth buying as a mum if you want to make fresh and healthy food, and a soup blender is one of them. You can houmous with these too…

I topped mine with simple croutons, made by dicing up a few slices of normal brown bread and frying in a little oil and butter, then seasoning.

I made mine using my beloved Instantpot electric pressure cooker, which halved the time, but of course you could make yours in a normal pan, instructions for both below.

Serves: 4 adults, generously 

Normal:
Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 25 minutes
Total time: 30 minutes  

With Instant Pot:
Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 10 minutes
Total time: 15 minutes 

Ingredients: 
1 small-ish butternut squash, diced into 1inch chunks
2 stalks celery, diced small
2 carrots, diced small
1 onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, crushed
2 tablespoons olive oil
700 – 800ml veg stock (depends on how thick you want it)
100g stilton, crumbled or diced
Pepper and a little salt

Normal instructions: 

1. Soften the garlic, onion, carrots and celery in a little oil over a medium heat for about 5-10 minutes, until very soft. 
2. Add the diced squash and cook for a further few minutes. 
3. Now pour in the hot stock. Let it come to boil then simmer for about 20 minutes, or until all vegetables are cooked through. 
4. Time to add the cheese. Just crumble in and stir. Whizz using a blender of some sort. Eat with crunchy croutons!

Instant Pot Instructions: 

1. Set the IP to Saute. Add some oil and soften the garlic, onion, carrots and celery in a little oil about 5 minutes. 
2. Add the diced squash.
3. Now pour in the hot stock. Put the lid on and press Cancel. Set the IP to Soup and decrease the time from 30 (it’s default) to 10. It will say On, then start counting down. Cancel once finished. 
4. Once it’s done, release steam and crumble in the cheese. Transfer to a blender and whizz.