Bean and Butternut Squash Soup

Ingredients

• 1 pound dried Great Northern beans
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 onion , chopped
• 3 cloves garlic , minced
• 3 large bay leaves
• 2 quartss water
• 2 cubess chicken bouillon
• 2 pounds butternut squash - peeled , seeded, and cut into chunks
• 2 cups chopped carrots
• 2 stalks celery , chopped
• 2.5 teaspoons salt
• 0.75 teaspoons ground black pepper
• 0.75 teaspoons ground white pepper
• 0.5 teaspoons ground ginger
• 0.5 teaspoons allspice
• 1 package pre-cooked chicken sausage , 12 ounce

Instructions

1. 1

   Place Great Northern beans into a large container and cover with several inches of cool water; let stand 8 hours to overnight. Drain.

2. 2

   Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat; cook and stir onion and garlic in the hot oil until onion is translucent, 5 to 10 minutes. Add bay leaves and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.

3. 3

   Mix beans, water, and bouillon into onion mixture; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover pot, and simmer, stirring occasionally, until beans are tender, about 1 hour.

4. 4

   Stir squash, carrots, celery, salt, black pepper, white pepper, ginger, and allspice into broth mixture; simmer until squash and carrots are tender, about 20 minutes.

5. 5

   Remove bay leaves from broth mixture and discard. Scoop 2 to 3 cups of vegetable-bean mixture using a slotted spoon from broth; blend broth and remaining vegetable-bean mixture using a hand blender until smooth. Return the vegetable-bean mixture to broth mixture and stir in sausage. Simmer soup until sausage is cooked through, 5 to 10 more minutes.