This is Julia Chandler’s famous squash soup recipe, submitted by her daughter, Laura McCabe. Julia created this recipe many years ago, so exact amounts of ingredients can vary.
 
Laura notes, “You can add a little more broth on initial boiling because you don’t want to have it cook down too much or risk scorching. The squash provides quite a bit of liquid on its own. Because we are a family that believes in our butter-fats, we tend to be generous with the butter. Julia believes that a big reason she is going strong at the age of 97 is her consumption of a glass of buttermilk every day!”  Julia’s Squash Soup is a hearty, tasty, and fairly healthy soup! 

Julia’s Squash Soup
6 Yellow Squash
6 Zucchini Squash
(2) 32 oz boxes of chicken broth (can use stock) 
1/4 to 1/2 stick of butter (depending on your butter tolerance - ha!)
2 to 4 oz of softened cream cheese (depending on your cream cheese tolerance - ha!)
1 to 2 tablespoons of dried dill
Salt/pepper
Additional dill (fresh or dried) for garnish

Instructions:
 
1. Rinse squash and cut into 1-inch chunks. 
 
2. Place squash into deep pan. Pour one 32 oz box of chicken broth over the squash and add butter and dried dill. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat and simmer squash until thoroughly softened. (Note: use additional broth if needed to it has cooked down too much…)
 
3. Remove pan (with cooked squash in it) from heat. Stir in the softened cream cheese.
 
4. Using a handheld blender, puree the squash and cream cheese thoroughly. If soup is too thick, add more broth.
 
5. Place soup back on heat and simmer for 5 additional minutes. Remove from heat when done. Do not bring to a boil.
 
6. Salt and pepper to taste. 
 
7. Serve soup alone, or pair with grilled cheese sandwiches, cheese or chicken quesadillas, green salad, or whatever sounds good. 

February Tips for Alto Cooks
 
If a recipe calls for softened butter – but you forgot to set it out ahead of time – there are a couple methods (not the microwave!) to hasten the process.
 
1 – Cut the butter in to 1 tablespoon slices. Set them out on a plate. In 20 minutes you’ll have soft butter.
 
2 – If your butter is really firm – grate it! The shavings will soften in no time.
 
3 – Put the butter between two sheets of waxed paper and roll it out with a rolling pin. Hitting it a couple times first is a great stress reliever and gets the ball rolling on spreading it out!
 
4 – Boil water in a microwave-safe glass (or pour boiling water into a glass). Dump the water out and set the now very warm glass over your stick of butter. About 10 minutes and you should have pretty soft butter!

5 – Okay – you just can’t wait and you want to use the microwave. Use the microwave at 20-30% power and run it in 5-10 second intervals.
This method will take you from hard to melted quickly so hang close!!
 
BTW – butter is considered “softened” when you can easily indent the butter when you pinch it!
Bon Appetit!!