Fall Soup

Heidi asked about some vegetable soups that are easy on the stomach, and that inspired me to make a winter squash soup last night. I'm not sure what kind of squash it was exactly-- not quite a pumpkin, but a pumpkin or kabocha or any other would work well too.
To make it, I sauteed a couple of leeks (just the white and very light green parts, cut in thin rings) in butter. I peeled the squash and cut it into big chunks, and added it to the leeks once they were looking cooked. I added about four cups of chicken stock, salt and pepper, and some fresh sage and thyme. I let this simmer for about half an hour, and once the vegetables were tender, removed the sage and thyme. I used my immersion blender to get it really smooth, then added some cultured cream-- maybe 1/2 cup. It turned out really nicely, and was fairly simple. I like it when you can really taste the main ingredient-- rather than adding too many seasonings and covering up the subtle flavors.
To make this soup more digestible if you have dairy issues, you could either omit the cream at the end (although if you kefir culture the cream, that helps) or season the soup with plenty of ginger and some cinnamon, or garam masala.
You can use this basic recipe with lots of different vegetables, broccoli or red bell peppers or sweet potatoes come to mind!