Butternut Soup With Pears And Apples - cooking recipe

Ingredients

1 tablespoon butter or 1 tablespoon margarine
1 cup chopped onion
3/4 cup chopped celery
4 cups cubed peeled butternut squash
1 3/4 cups water
1 cup chopped peeled braeburn apple
1 cup chopped peeled Anjou pear
1/2 cup apple juice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
1 (14 1/2 ounce) can vegetable broth
1 bay leaf
3 tablespoons maple syrup

Preparation

Melt the butter in a large soup pot over medium-high heat.
Add in onion and celery; stir/saute for 4 minutes or until tender.
Add in squash and the next 8 ingredients; bring to a boil.
Partially cover, lower heat, and simmer 30 minutes or until tender.
Throw out bay leaf.
Transfer half of squash mixture to the container of a blender or food processor; process until smooth.
Pour puree into a bowl; repeat procedure with the remaining squash mixture.
Return all puree mixture to soup pot; stir in syrup.
Cook over medium heat for about 5 minutes or until well heated.
**Could use stick blender in soup pot instead of pureeing in blender.