I’m always looking for ways to make a great-tasting soup that 1) doesn’t take all day and 2) my 7-year-old daughter will like. To that end, this weekend I experimented and came up with a delicious soup with sausage, pasta, and acorn squash. The great thing about sausage is that it imparts instant savory flavor, which means you can get away without making a soup stock or cooking it for hours. In this case, I sauteed two yellow onions and four garlic cloves in olive oil (in a stock pot) until they were soft, about five minutes. To that I added about 1½ pounds of spicy Italian sausage (cut in small chunks) and let that all cook for another five minutes. Next came one butternut squash, cubed (though you could also use sweet potatoes or acorn squash). I brought all that to a boil, then let it simmer for about five more minutes until the squash softened. Then in went 1½ cups of pasta (I used farfalle, but penne or orecchiette would work just fine too). Let that all cook until the pasta is al dente. If you want to make it healthier, throw in some greens at the very end, like kale. They’ll cook instantly, and you’re done! My daughter loved it, and the whole process took only about one hour. I like to make a lot for leftovers during the week, but you could halve this recipe for a dinner for four.

nsprinkle@seattleweekly.com