Sunshine Soup with Calendula

On this snowy, cold weekend I was inspired to cook-up something that would be colorful, nourishing and full of sunshine. This far north, we could all use a burst of cheer at this point in the winter season. So after a walk down to the local farmers' market on Saturday morning (the always wonderful Somerville Winter Farmers' Market) I came home with a beautiful butternut squash and a hankering to make some soup with it. What follows is the recipe for my sunshine soup - so called because the theme was yellow,  and the secret ingredient is calendula petals!
(* I never measure things when I cook, so the recipe below is my best guess-timate! Enjoy creating your own version using this as a reference...)

Ingredients:
large butternut squash
beef stock (preferably homemade - can also use chicken or vegetable stock)
one large yellow onion
1 tsp. thyme
1 tblsp. turmeric
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground pepper
handful of dried calendula petals
a couple cloves of garlic
lemon to taste

- Roast the butternut squash until soft, let cool, scrape out the flesh and blend on high speed with about a cup of beef stock.
-In the meantime, chop and saute the yellow onion with the salt and spices. Add the calendula petals last, with another cup of stock, let everything simmer together for a few minutes.
-Blend this onion mixture with the squash mixture, then return everything back to the pot.
-Add in some finely chopped or pressed garlic and some fresh lemon juice to taste.
-Heat back up and serve.
-Know you are eating lots of yellow goodness and be happy!