This soup, perfect for fall days and nights, cooks up beautifully in a crock pot. If you put together all the ingredients in the morning, the house will smell heavenly all day, and the soup will be ready to eat when dinnertime comes. On the other hand, if evening time works better for prepping the ingredients, the house will smell heavenly when you wake up, and the soup will be ready at lunchtime and also keep til dinnertime.

Two strategies contribute to the flavor of Yellow Squash Soup. The first is slicing vegetables thinly, which increases the available surface area, increases absorption of spices into the vegetables, and makes more flavor available to all the taste buds in your happy, waiting mouth. So take your time, and cut the vegetables thinly. Not paper thin, just thin. The second is slow cooking, which is a wonderfully reliable way to enhance flavor and make everything taste the very best it possibly can.

2 long yellow (zucchini-type) squash, medium
2 carrots, peeled and sliced in 1/4-inch slices
1/2 Vidalia onion, peeled and sliced very thinly
4 stalks celery (leaves included), sliced very thinly
1/3 cup quinoa
1/3 cup green mung beans (hard, unsprouted)
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp. garlic powder
2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. pepper
1 1/2 tsp. mustard seed
one whole lemon, sliced in half cross-wise
water to fill a large crockpot half way (approx 1 quart)

1. Cut each yellow squash in half lengthwise, and slice thinly to create half-moons. Add to crockpot along with carrots, onion, celery, quinoa, and mung beans.
2. Add olive oil, garlic powder, salt, pepper, and mustard seed.
3. Fill the crockpot halfway with water. Allow to cook on low setting for 8-12 hours, but feel free to leave for longer if necessary.
4. Squeeze the juice of the two lemon halves into the soup just before serving.

Hearty appetite, and happy fall!