I love my heavy cast iron skillet with a passion. I like to use it to sear and then bake poultry, and then the pan is left with delicious juices that I hate to waste. Lately, after roasting chicken, I have been throwing in 1-2 cups of cubed winter squash and roasting for 40 minutes until falling apart. Then I keep it in single-serving size portions in tupperware that is a bit too large for the contents in the fridge until I am ready to make winter squash soup.

I posted a recipe earlier for pumpkin and coconut milk soup, with a quick tip for weeknights to use canned pumpkin. This is actually even easier.

I use the same basic recipe: sautee several types of mushrooms, chiken or tofu and 1/4 cup chickpeas in a small pot, add spices (I like cinnamon, cumin, paprika, curry powder or curry paste, ginger and salt/pepper), then add broth and coconut milk until warm. The ratio of broth to coconut milk depends on how rich you like your soup. I have also used unsweetened almond milk with good results. Remove 1/2 cup of the warm liquid and add it to a single-serving size portion in the tupperware and mash with a fork until creamy. Then add the squash mixture to the soup and serve.

I like it topped with parmesan cheese and pumpkin seeds.

In the past, I made this recipe using a blender to puree first or by using an immersion blender in the pot (this is why I came up with my time-saving tip of using canned pumpkin, since my previous method created many more things to clean with the blender and multiple pots – one for the “chunky” ingredients and one for the “smooth” ingredients). The fork-mashing technique is even faster than opening a can, and the taste is much better!