Posted by: Hillary from Chicagoland on Mon, Dec 27, 99 at 23:31

butternut squash and blue cheese soup

Take a cup of navy or other small white beans and place in pan with plenty of water to cover. Cook beans on high until boiling. Remove from heat and allow beans to soak in water for an hour. After an hour, rinse beans and cover them with fresh water, add a bay leaf then put on heat. When they boil, lower temperature so that beans cook at a simmer. Take 2 medium butternut squash, or other squash of comparable size, cut in half and seed. Then, cover with foil and bake for about an hour, until tender. Then, scrape squash flesh out of skins into beans and water. Add one big can of chicken broth (about 48 oz I think). simmer until everything is very, very tender, about an hour. Then, remove bay leaf, take soup and process in blender until very smooth. Return to pan, and add about 1 tsp dried thyme, salt and pepper to taste, and about 1/4 to 1/2 cup blue cheese crumbles, gorgonzola for preference, but whatever you have. Adjust seasoning, and if soup gets too thick, add more chicken broth to thin. Serve hot. I sometimes skip the blue cheese and instead add a bunch of curry powder for a curry squash soup.