Vegan Summer Squash and Pesto Soup - Recipe Theme

If you have a few leftover summer squash as the frost moves in, this is a great soup to help use them up.  You can also use your other garden produce to make this flavorful and unique soup that can use up all your remaining fresh basil. This is another crock pot recipe, can you tell where my cooking of soups tends to gravitate?  Hubby does not like to make soup and I don’t like to be in the kitchen for long periods which makes crockpot soups my favorite.  

The butter-based pesto topping is what makes you love this soup as one last time to enjoy the flavors of summer. And the butter is great on pasta, rolls, and steamed vegetables too! Leftovers of both can be frozen. 

Vegetable Soup with Pesto Butter

•  1 large onion, chopped
• 3/4 pound new potatoes (1-inch diameter), halved
• Salt and pepper
• 2 summer squash (8 oz. each), halved lengthwise and sliced crosswise into 1/3-inch pieces
• 1/2 pound green beans, halved
• 1/2 pound sugar snap peas
• 1 quart vegetable broth or stock
• 1 cup (packed) fresh basil
• 1 small clove garlic, peeled
• 1/4 cup finely grated parmesan
• 4 tablespoons butter or vegetable butter substitute
• 3 ears corn, kernels cut off (about 1 1/2 cups)
• 1 large tomato, diced

Directions:

Layer the onion and potatoes in a large, lined slow cooker; season with salt and pepper. Add the squash, green beans, snap peas and broth. Cover and cook until the potatoes and squash are soft and the beans and peas are crisp-tender, about 2 hours on high or 3 hours on low.

Meanwhile, make the pesto butter: Using a food processor, puree the basil and garlic until finely chopped. Add the parmesan, butter/butter substitute, 1/2 tsp. salt and 1/4 tsp. pepper. Process until the butter comes together in a ball. Transfer to a small bowl.

Stir the corn and tomato into the finished stew; season. Top each serving with pesto butter.

 

RECIPE THEME

Each month a theme is chosen and a number of recipes on that theme from my massive archive will be shared.  This year we have 12 new topics, different from the topics of last year.  

To find the recipes of last year, check out this recipe link or search the blog with the topic Recipe2018, or Recipe2019 

You can search the monthly theme by looking for the theme keyword in the search box and it will pull up the recipes on that theme as posted, so look at the bottom of the recipe in each posting for the KEYWORD in the () to search for each  month.  All recipes this year will be tagged Recipe2020 so you can find them all.

The themes are:

Feb 2020 - Footbal Tailgate Favorites (AppFeb)

March 2020 - Kabobs (KabobMar)

April 2020 - Brunch (BrunchApr) more in 2021 also

May 2020 - Non-Traditional Pizza (PizzaMay)

June 2020 - Stir Fry Dishes (StirJun)

July 2020 - Salads with no lettuce (SaladJul)

August 2020 - Pickled things (PickleAug)

September 2020 - Quiche (QuicheSep)

October 2020 - Squash Soups (SquashOct)

November 2020 - Pumpkin (again) (PumpNov)

December 2020 - Turkey Recipes (TurkDec)