Butternut Probiotic Soup

When the weather gets cold, I keep a bag of butternut squash in my freezer at all times because I love this soup. It is beyond comfort food; it’s heavenly. The probiotic leeks add a ton of prebiotics to your diet. Leeks are one of the very strongest prebiotic veggies and they're so effective at feeding your bacteria that I try to eat them as often as I can.

Servings: servings

Ingredients

2 tablespoons butter
3 whole leeks cut into rounds
4 cups butternut squash fresh or frozen
2 tablespoons poultry seasoning
2 1/2 teaspoons Celtic Sea Salt
4 cups chicken bone broth
1/2 cup cream or milk
1/4 cup Labneh from yogurt or kefir or Crème Fraîche Starter Culture
1 teaspoon black pepper

Instructions

Melt the butter in a pan over medium heat, then add the leeks and sauté until soft.
Add the butternut squash, poultry seasoning, and salt to pan. Cover with chicken broth and bring the mixture to a boil.
Reduce the heat and simmer until squash is soft. If using frozen squash, this will take only 5 minutes; fresh squash will take up to 15 minutes.
Remove the mixture from the heat, add the cream or milk, and puree until smooth and creamy using an immersion hand blender (or a standard blender).
Set the soup aside to cool. When the thermometer reads 110°F or below, ladle into bowls and top each serving with a spoonful of Probiotic Crème Fraîche and some black pepper. Adding the Crème Fraîche while the soup is too hot will kill the probiotics.