Here’s a super low calorie, low carb thick and creamy soup perfect for hiding chicken or other protein in when you need a low carb disguise.

And it’s quick and easy to make for a warming comfort soup on a cold day!

• 4 tbsp (or so) chopped fresh ginger
• 4 cups each chopped kobacha squash & rutabaga
• 1/2 chopped onion
• 3 stalks celery, sliced
• 4 cloves fresh garlic
• about a tbsp dried rosemary, 2 bay leaves, and a tsp. dried thyme
• Chili powder and black pepper to taste

Boil in a pot with just enough water to cover all ingredients, until fully cooked and soft. Let cool and then blend everything together in Vitamix or good blender. Saute the other half of onion and a few stalks of celery in the pot you just used with a tad of coconut or olive oil (I do this because I like to have a few chunks in my otherwise blended soup), and then add to soup back into pot.

Add diced chicken, ground turkey (optional) to make it a higher protein, lower carb hearty meal.  Easy-peezy!

 

Kabocha squash, also known as Japanese squash, is hard and has knobbly-looking skin, is shaped like a small pumpkin, and has a dull-finished, deep green skin with some whitish stripes and an intense yellow-orange color on the inside.  It has an exceptional naturally sweet flavour.

Although it most closely resembles the sweet potato or yam for its rich texture and sweet flavour, it’s more comparable to butternut squash for it’s caloric and carbohydrate values, making it a favourite for bodybuilders, fitness competitors or others on low-carb diets.   For about a half cup serving, you get 20 calories and 5 grams of carbohydrate, as opposed to the same amount of yams at 79 calories and 19 grams of carbs.

Cook kobacha just as you would any squash.  It is rich in beta carotene, iron, vitamin C and potassium.