red lentil and butternut squash soup

Make sure not to put too much water in. The second time I made this I didn't think it tasted as good because I added more water at an early point and had a slightly different ratio of ingredients including twice as much squash. I tossed in some rice to make it less watery. Odd thing was my son said he liked it better this way - because it wasn't as thick. Go figure. Second time to get more umami I put in a few tablespoons of butter, there'd been less oil used in cooking. Thought it was bland so tossed in more salt and pepper, and a good dose of chile powder. The kids still said it was bland. So, taste as you go to get it how you like it.

• 1/2 large butternut squash or 1 small butternut squash

• 1/4 yellow onion

• carrots

• chicken

• split red lentils

• 1 pint half and half

• chicken bouillon

• rosemary

• pepper

• oil

• water

1. Use cooked squash. If the squash is not already cooked preheat the oven to 375. Rinse the squash and cut it in half. Place foil on a baking sheet. Rub oil over the squash. Put it in the oven and bake until a fork inserted in any part goes in without resistance. Peel the skin off the cooked squash and cut it into cubes.

2. Chop the onion and the carrots. In a large pot combine the butternut squash, onion, and carrots.

3. Add chicken to the pot. You can use any kind of chicken you want, boneless or not. I used two thawed chicken leg quarters I'd previously cut meat off of for another recipe that'd been sitting in the freezer a while. Add water and red lentils. Add pepper and rosemary. Stir the ingredients together.

4. Bring the pot to a boil under medium-high heat. Cook stirring regularly until the lentils are done.

5. If using bone in meat, at a point during the cook remove the chicken from the pot and allow it to cool. Pick the meat off the bones and return it to the pot.

6. Turn off the heat. Stir the half and half into the soup. Add chicken bouillon to taste.

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