This soup is perfect for all the cold days and nights ahead, and it cooks up beautifully in a crock pot. If you throw together all the ingredients in the morning, the house will smell heavenly all day, and the soup will be ready to eat come dinnertime. If, on the other hand, evening works better for prepping the ingredients, the house will smell heavenly through the night and when you awaken, and the soup will be ready at lunchtime. For the record, it will also keep ’til dinnertime.

Two kitchen strategies contribute to the flavor of Yellow Squash Soup. The first is to slice the vegetables thinly, which increases the amount of surface area available to absorb spices into the vegetables, which, in turn, increases the amount of more flavor available to the taste buds in your mouth. So take your time as you cut the vegetables thinly. Not paper thin, just thin. The second strategy is slow cooking, a wonderful and reliable way to enhance flavor, caramelize natural sugars, and make everything taste the very best it possibly can. 

2 long yellow (zucchini-type) squash, medium
2 medium to large carrots, peeled and sliced in 1/4-inch slices
1/2 large 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 and 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 and happy autumn!