Tomato Bisque with Grilled Cheese

Ok, I'm making an announcement. I ate butternut squash! Yes I did. It's in this soup. And it's covered up halfway by tomato, but hey. It's in there. Haha. And if you have kiddos who won't eat it, this is a good way to sneak it in. And it made a lot, probably about 2.5 quarts. It would feed a pretty big group. Just so you know. Haha. I'll be freezing some. :)

This is actually pretty tasty. I love to do tomato soup with grilled cheese sandwiches, but condensed canned soup gets old. So I decided to try making my own. I found a cool recipe on Mel's Kitchen Cafe, but it contained butternut squash. I was hesitant at first. I don't do squash. I decided to try it, but altered it a bit to make it my own. So...give it a try, even if you're "persnickety," because it's really pretty good. Here we go.

Ingredients:
2 cans of tomato puree
1 butternut squash, for about 2-2.5 cups of cooked squash
2 cups of chicken broth
1.5 cups cream or half and half
2 teaspoons onion powder
3 teaspoons garlic powder
2 teaspoons italian seasoning
2 teaspoons dried basil

Directions:
Cut the squash in half. Scoop out the seeds and pulp, and place them cut side down in a baking dish (mine was about 9 x 13). Pour in just enough water to come up about 1/4 inch onto the squash. I used about 3 cups of water. Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 45 minutes to an hour. When the flesh is tender and you can poke a fork into it easily, it's done. Take the squash out of the baking dish and put them on a plate or a cutting board to cool. After about 15 minutes of cooling, scoop the insides of the squash out. It'll look something like this:

Put the squash into a blender with about 3/4 of one of the cans of tomato puree. Blend it together until the squash is smooth. Dump the squash puree with the remaining tomato puree into a large pot. Heat it over medium/low heat. Add the garlic, onion, and seasonings, and stir well to combine. It will be pretty thick, kinda like a thick pasta sauce. Add the chicken broth, which will significantly thin it out. It will still be thick, just more soup texture. Let it heat up, letting the flavors meld together. Add the cream or half and half and mix it in well. Don't let it simmer or boil, or the cream/half and half will curdle. Eww. Haha. Stirring frequently will help with that.

Spoon the warm soup into a bowl, and garnish with a little shredded mozzarella. Serve it with a simple grilled cheese, and enjoy! Yum!