Summer Squash Soup for the Freezer {Finished Friday #46} come link up your projects, too!

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During the past two weeks we've been harvesting some more produce from our garden. First there were lots and lots of carrots.

The carrots had to have the stems cut off, be scrubbed clean and placed in the fridge. We were able to fill over 10 gallon-sized bags!

Next there was a steady stream of yellow summer squash.

Most of the squash was washed, chopped, and placed into freezer bags for using in soup and pasta sauce later (since we'll be using the squash in the next couple of months we chose not to blanch the squash first.)

Yesterday, since we had gathered even more squash, we had a fresh batch of homemade vegetable broth, and Tim had a day off from work, it was time to make a double batch of one of our favorite soup recipes for the freezer.

First, Tim and the kids washed and chopped the squash. Then they washed, peeled, and chopped the potatoes and carrots. Next, I was called in to chop the onions since Tim's eyes water like crazy if he tries to chop onions.

Making a telescope out of the squash is completely optional :)

Once everything was chopped, most of the work for the soup was finished. (And we made sure to save all of those veggie scraps to make even more delicious homemade vegetable broth.)

We could barely fit all of the double batch of veggies into our 10 quart pot, but we piled it on and once everything cooked down a bit there was plenty of room to stir.
After it simmered and we blended it up with a handy immersion blender (we've blended in batches in a regular blender before, too) we ended up with 7 quarts of deliciously creamy soup.

Creamy Summer Squash Soup
adapted from Epicurious

3 Tbsp unsalted butter
1 medium onion, halved and thinly sliced
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 pounds (about 8 small) yellow summer squash thinly sliced
2 carrots, thinly sliced
1 yellow-fleshed potato (1/2 lb), peeled, halved, and thinly sliced
2 cups chicken or vegetable broth

Melt butter in a large, heavy pot over medium heat. 

Cook onion and garlic with salt, stirring, until softened, about 8 minutes. 

Add squash, carrots, potato, and stock and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, then simmer, partially covered, until vegetables are very tender, about 20 minutes. 

Remove from heat and cool soup, uncovered, 10 minutes.

Working in batches, puree soup in a blender until smooth (use caution when blending hot liquids) and transfer to a bowl. Return puree to cleaned pot and thin with water or more broth if desired. Or use an immersion blender to puree the soup. Simmer 3 minutes. Season with salt.

We also made a batch of Parsley Mint Pistou to freeze in an ice cube tray. This pistou is wonderful swirled into the hot soup.

I'm linking up to these parties.

Today's Questions: Did you plant a garden this year? Have you harvested anything yet? What produce would you love to be able to grow yourself? (The big thing I'm waiting for is our own land so we can plant some fruit trees.)

I'm trying to hold myself accountable to finish some of the projects on my to do list by posting each Friday about a project I've completed.

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