Bean and Butternut Squash Soup

Ingredients

• 0.5 teaspoon allspice 
• 3 large bay leaves 
• 2 pounds butternut squash peeled seeded cut into chunks
• 2 cups carrots chopped
• 2 stalks celery chopped
• 2 cubes chicken bouillon 
• 12 ounce mild chicken sausage pre-cooked cut into bite-size pieces
• 1 pound cannellini beans dried
• 3 cloves garlic minced
• 0.5 teaspoon ground ginger 
• 0.8 teaspoon ground pepper black
• 0.8 teaspoon ground pepper white
• 1  onion chopped
• 2.5 teaspoons salt 
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil 
• 2 quarts water 

Equipment

• pot
• slotted spoon
• immersion blender

Directions

1. Place Great Northern beans into a large container and cover with several inches of cool water; let stand 8 hours to overnight.
2. Drain.
3. Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat; cook and stir onion and garlic in the hot oil until onion is translucent, 5 to 10 minutes.
4. Add bay leaves and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.
5. Mix beans, water, and bouillon into onion mixture; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover pot, and simmer, stirring occasionally, until beans are tender, about 1 hour.
6. Stir squash, carrots, celery, salt, black pepper, white pepper, ginger, and allspice into broth mixture; simmer until squash and carrots are tender, about 20 minutes.
7. Remove bay leaves from broth mixture and discard. Scoop 2 to 3 cups of vegetable-bean mixture using a slotted spoon from broth; blend broth and remaining vegetable-bean mixture using a hand blender until smooth. Return the vegetable-bean mixture to broth mixture and stir in sausage. Simmer soup until sausage is cooked through, 5 to 10 more minutes.