Butternut squash and apple harvest soup.

After two lovely weeks spent traveling Spain and eating as many tapas as I could handle, I was ready to get back into my kitchen and make a mess, sans jamon iberico. Since we returned to gold and rust-colored leaves on trees and an undeniable crispness that could only be autumn, I opted for a soup and some squash. My recipe? Thanks to allrecipes.com, I found this one, a bisque chock-full of veggies and an apple for a little bit of an unexpected sweetness. As I am prone to do, I chopped all of my ingredients, then presented them to myself. (I do like to pretend I have my own cooking show.)

Lots of chopping involved in this one.

Such a pretty vegetable.

Soup cooking away, making the fruit and veggies soft and ready for the immersion blender.

The end result: soup and a salad, adorned with some more apple, goat cheese and some toasted walnuts.

Of course, some crusty bread on the side too.

Both P.I.C. and I relished our lovely dinner in our own kitchen made from my own hands. It was lovely to be back home. As for the soup? I highly recommend it. It tastes like creamy fall in a bowl. I used half and half instead of light cream and also added some shakes of cayenne pepper (per a reviewer on allrecipes) to add a little bit of a kick, and it was delightful