Harvest Red Pepper Creamy Bisque

Directions

Preheat oven to 350°.

Slice red bell peppers in half and remove stems and seeds. Place on a foil-lined baking sheet and coat with olive oil. Roast for approximately one hour. They will become tender and begin to wilt. Black edges may appear but that's good … you are

"roasting" these.

Halve Butternut Squash and remove and discard seeds. Place both halves cut side down in a casserole dish and fill it with one inch of hot water. Bake for one hour.

Halve Acorn Squash and remove and discard seeds. Place both halves cut side down in a casserole dish and fill it with one inch of hot water. Bake for one hour.

**All of the three above items may be placed in the same oven if you can fit them … I had to use both of my ovens. If you decide to cook them all together, you might condider using your convection setting to distribute heat more evenly**

Place cashews in a pot and just cover with water. On the stovetop, bring them to a boil. Reduce heat to very low and allow them to warm and soak the hour that your squash and peppers are cooking. They can't really be in water too long soaking.

When finished roasting peppers and baking squash, remove from the oven. Remove squash from water baths carefully and allow to cool until you can handle them.

When you can handle the hot squash, take a large spoon and dig the meat from the skin. Discard skins.

Take the meat from one of the squash and put into you heavy duty blender (I have a Vitamix) along with half of the cooled red peppers. Cover with chicken broth and blend until super creamy and no chunks or pieces remain. Pour this in to a large stock pot.

Repeat this with the meat of the other squash and the second half of red peppers as well as more chicken broth. Add to stock pot.

Next place the cashews into the blender with the water they were cooked in. Blend until very creamy and then add to the stock pot as well.

Stir the ingredients together in the stock pot and warm on low heat on the stovetop.

When it becomes a beautiful solid, creamy orangish-red, you are ready to add your spices.
I tend to love things spicy and the above amounts will lend you a slightly spicy bisque. Add them slowly and taste as you go. When you have your desired levels of salt and spice and the bisque is heated through, ENJOY!!!
It's a gorgeous, simply delicious bisque. 

Notes:

Many people incorporate dairy into their Paleo lifestyle. I do from time to time but it is the exception, not the norm. And I choose to really only use CHEESE (always raw and not pasteurized) for my dairy splurges. The cashews in this recipe literally emulsify if you blend them long enough and replace the need for heavy cream. You won't believe how beautifully they behave as a cream substitute and the nutty flavor compliments the produce flavors so well.