8am on Wednesday. Bleary-eyed and wrapped in her robe, my mom walks into the kitchen to find me in the middle of peeling a butternut squash. Since Clark and I moved in with them last January, though, I am sure this is among the less weird things she’s witnessed me doing.

I asked to tag along for her hair appointment to share some girl-time and because all of the best stores are near her salon. When I woke up that morning and remembered the butternut squash that I’d put off making, I had what I thought would be a brilliant idea – maybe it would be possible to make a recipe while I wasn’t even home.

As it turns out, it is possible and it turned out to be a great idea.

All of the ingredients go into the crockpot and 6 hours later, it was ready to go. Just a quick spin with my immersion blender [a regular blender will work, too] and the mixture was transformed into a smooth and rich savory soup.

I don’t know about you, but I’m a big fan of any recipe that can take care of itself while I’m busy doing other stuff. Especially when it turns into something as awesome as this.

This butternut squash soup is different than most in that it takes the spicy road instead of the – in my opinion – weird, cinnamon-nutmeg-clove approach to flavor. Like sweet potatoes, butternut squash is something that I think should be savory, not sweet.

I’ll be honest – this soup has heat. And it builds as you eat it. That’s because I love a soup that warms you from the inside out. If your spicy-food-tolerance is on the lower side, just dial back the amount of cayenne and chili flakes and you’ll have the perfect balance.

For best results, snuggle up on the couch with a steaming bowl of this soup and a few hunks of crusty baguette while binge-watching Parts Unknown on Netflix.