Butternut Squash Soup Recipe

Remember the picture I posted yesterday? Of the soup and bread?
Well, I posted the bread recipe (English muffin bread) before. (Check out the fair recipes.) but here is the recipe for the soup. It's not mine but I suggest you pin it anyway!

Roasted Butternut Squash Soup
3# butternut squash-peeled, seeded and cubed
1 tbsp olive oil
Salt and pepper
8 strips bacon-chopped
1 large onion-chopped
6 stalks celery-chopped
6 carrots-chopped
1 bay leaf
2 tsp curry powder
1 tsp thyme
Salt and pepper
4 cloves minced garlic
1 1/2 qt chicken stock
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1 1/2 cup sour cream

Preheat oven to 375. Mix squash pieces with oil and salt/pepper. Roast till carmelized and fork tender-30-40 minutes.
Cook bacon over medium high until evenly browned-about 10 minutes. Reserve drippings and remove bacon.
Place in large pot with bacon drippings onion, celery, carrots, garlic and spices. Cook until vegetables are soft. Add in squash and cook five more minutes. Add in chicken stock and simmer on medium low for about 20 minutes.
Purée. Add nutmeg; top with bacon and sour cream.

Here are the notes:
I make Joe deal with the squash. It's the hardest part.
Spice wise I stick pretty close to this but often add in red chili flakes.
Broth, stock, whatever. You might not need the whole amount of liquid.
I don't always have sour cream but add half and half or heavy whipping cream instead.

The beauty of this recipe is many.
1) it can be made vegetarian-no bacon, oil instead of bacon drippings, veggie broth instead of chicken stock
2) it freezes well
3) you can make it into whatever you want! Add cheese, croutons, carmelized onions, sraracha (that red hot sauce)
Many might be an exaggerated but it's a seriously really good soup.