Red Lentil and Butternut Squash Curry Soup

I found this recipe at Martha Stewart's website (of all places) yesterday and I just happened to have everything I needed to make it at home already. So of course I had to try it out. I followed the recipe pretty closely except I did not make my own curry spice mix (I just used a store bought curry powder) and I added a bit of orzo pasta to bulk it up a bit. Delicious!

Ingredients:

• 2 Tbsp curry powder
• 2 tsp sea salt
• 1 tsp ginger powder
• 1 half a sweet onion, diced
• 2 Tbsp minced garlic
• 2 Tbsp butter
• 1 butternut squash, seeded, peeled, cubed
• 4-5 cups water + 1 bouillon cube
• 8 oz red lentils
• 1/4 cup of orzo pasta
• a dash of red pepper flakes for extra heat
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

• Melt butter at medium heat in a big pot or dutch oven and add salt and curry powder and stir for a minute.
• Add onion and garlic and saute until translucent. Stir in ginger powder.
• Add squash to pot, stir and let cook for about 5 min. until squash starts to soften.
• Add water and bouillon and heat to boiling. Reduce heat and let simmer for 10 min. (at this point I used my potato masher to mash some of the squash a bit.)
• Stir in lentils and orzo and simmer for 10 to 15 more min. until soft.
• Taste and add spices as desired.