Preheat oven to 425° F. Parchment line a half sheet pan.

• 1 large butternut squash, peeled & cut into 1″ cubes (about 6 cups)
• 2-3 firm apples, cored & cut into wedges (about 3 cups)
• 1 large or 2 medium onions, peeled & cut into wedges (about 3 cups)
• 3-5 garlic cloves, smashed and peeled (think gentle garlic background flavor not strong in- your-face garlic)
• Olive oil
• Dash of cayenne pepper
• Sea salt
• Good water*
• Cooking steps follow below the cashew cream and garnish information.

Cashew cream:

• 1 cup raw cashews
• 3-4 cups good water*
• 1 t orange juice (or lemon)
• 1/4 t sea salt
• Dash (1/16 t) nutmeg

Soak cashews in 2 c water for 2 hours. Drain. Put cashews, 1 cup water and all other ingredients in Blentec. Blend until smooth and creamy. Adding more water if you’d like a bit thinner. I like it a thick cream consistency.

Garnish: Diced apple, pomegranate seeds, pumpkin seeds, and chose one spice: cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, curry powder. Rebecca Katz’s Triple Triple Brittle is particularly delicious, alone or as a garnish. https://www.rebeccakatz.com/recipe-box/triple-triple-brittle (I revised the spices: 2 t cinnamon, 1 t ginger, 1/4 t allspice, 1/8 t cloves, 1/4 t cardamom.)

Keeping ingredients separate (so that when they bake you can remove any item that cooks faster), toss them with olive oil, sea salt and cayenne and place in dedicated sections on the baking sheet. Roast until they just start to caramelize. Start with 20 minutes. Depending on the moisture content, this may vary by quite a bit. The apples usually cook a bit faster, so remove them to a bowl and return the pan to the oven. The pumpkin really does need to brown a bit to have the best flavor.

Now you can make, a mash, a puree, or a soup. Blendtec everything, adding 2 cups of good water. (*Blog about what make good clean water coming soon. For now, nothing out of a plastic bottle and preferably filtered.)

The amount of liquid you add will, of course, determine if you want a mash, puree, or soup. BUT it also depends on the moisture content left in your unique squash, onions, and apples. I make a thick soup that can be used as a sauce for grains, chicken, fish, etc. It’s especially good with scallops.

Hot. Cold. Over. Under. As a base under or a sauce over for grains, scallops, green beans, chicken, eggs…

Freezes perfectly. So does the cashew cream. Use Ball Jars (straight-sided that say freeze proof), leave 1″ of space at top of jar (head room) to allow the expansion that happens when freezing. Stock up. Thaw in the refrigerator totally or under constant supervision to be sure it stays cold, thaw under warm water. For food safety, if you are using the warm water method, thaw just until it can pop out of the jar into a saucepan to heat.

HUGS!