Butternut Squash and Lentil Soup

I am very lucky to live in an area where there is a really nice residents society which creates a lovely community feel amongst the residents. Every one in the neighbor hood always pitches in be it for a pot luck part, street lunch, a church jumble sale or helping at local  community hall. These events are all run by volunteers and the funds to provide for them are also raised by the residents too.The money is raised through quarterly resident magazine, memberships, sponsor ships from local businesses, jumble sales and bring and buy sales too. Of course we mustn't forget the Christmas and the summer fetes too.

A lot of the residents in the area are elderly and some are often craving for some company and a meet up. Loneliness is something that a lot of elderly people face and because of this Sunrise Senior Living, the UK care home provider have created a campaign to reduce loneliness amongst the elderly and encourage community participation like ours to combat this.

Every Friday in our  the local community center we host  a help the aged Friday lunch and drop in session. This gives the  residents a chance to enjoy a delicious home cooked meal and also to mix with other people be it for a game of cards, a chat or a game of bingo. This is a great way to provide support to the elderly residents and it gives them a chance to get out of the house and socialise  too
The lunches are all provided by the residents and cooked by volunteers.

One Friday every month, I go in to help cook the lunch.The lunches are always three course starting with soup, a main meal an a dessert.The soup that I really like to cook is Butternut squash and lentil. Its hearty and delicious and easy to make too. Below you can see the recipe.

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Butternut Squash and Lentil Soup

by Nayna Kanabar July-4-2015

Creamy rich butternut squash soup with lentils

Ingredients:

• 400 ml Vegetable Stock
• 150 g Butternut Squash peeled and Diced
• 2 Medium Onions finely diced
• 3 Carrots peeled and diced
• 3/4 teaspoon Salt
• 1/2 teaspoon White Pepper
• 1 tablespoon Olive Oil
• 1 Green Chilli finely sliced (optional)

Method:

1. In a pan add the 200 ml of stock and add the lentils ,cook for 20 minutes and once cooked keep aside. Don't overcook the lentils they should hold shape.2. In a separate pan add the oil and saute the onions for 2-3 minutes, Take out a tablespoonful of cooked onions and keep for garnish and to the remaining onions add the carrots and butternut squash and saute for 3-4 minutes. 3. Add the 200 ml vegetable stock and simmer the soup for 15 minutes until the vegetables are cooked.4. Blend the cooked vegetables in a blender and transfer the soup to the pan with the cooked lentils. With a spoon mix together the vegetables and the lentils. 5 Season with salt and pepper.6. Serve the soup in mugs and garnish with the fried onions and sliced chilli. Serve the soup with fresh crusty bread.

Details

Prep time: 10 mins Cook time: 20 minsTotal time: 30 mins Yield: Serves 4