a hearty, warm you up delicious soup!

- this is simple, wintery goodness. i made the meal tonight just as the magazine (cooking light) recommended with the toasts and cheese and it was perfect!!!! very very good

Golden Winter Soup

2 tbspn butter
5 c cubed peeled butternut squash
2 c cubed peeled russet potato
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper
2 c sliced leek (about 2 medium)
4 c chicken broth
1 c halfnhalf
baguette
gruyere cheese
chopped chives (for garnish)
freshly ground pepper (for garnish)

1. melt butter in large dutch oven over medium high heat. add squash, potato, salt and pepper to pan. saute 3 minutes. add leek, saute 1 minute. sitr in broth, bring to a boil. reduce hat and simmer 20 minutes or until potato is tender, sitrring occasionally. place half of potato mixture into a blender. remove center piece of blender lid (to allow steam to escape), secure blender lid on blender. place a clean tower over opening in blender lid (to avoid splatters). blend until smooth. pour into a large bowl. repeat procedure with remaining potato mixture. sitr in half and half. cover and keep warm.

2. arrange sliced baguette on cookie sheet. place slices of gruyere cheese on top. broil slices until slightly toasted and cheese is melted. ladle soup into bowls, garnish with ground pepper and chives (the chives are necessary by the way- soooo good!) serve with toasts.

**gruyere cheese is expensive for sure, but wow, the taste of the cheese went so well with the soup it was well worth it. and i love broiled toast with cheese! this was filling and tasty yet fairly low fat. i will definitely make this again. it would serve probably 4-6 people.