* The heavy cream is a delicious addition to this soup and I do recommend using it. However, it is not essential and can be replaced with a half cup more of chicken broth. * I happened to have leftover beer bread, which went great with the soup, but any bread can be used. And obviously you do not need to make the croutons into ghost regular old toast would be just a good. *Again the butter adds great flavor and goes really well with the squash, but it can be left out. *To Make Ahead: For the soup: Prepare the soup through all steps. Allow to cool and store in the fridge until ready to eat. For the Croutons: Completely prepare and store in the fridge on their baking sheet. When ready to eat preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place soup pot back on the stove and simmer until warmed through. Bake croutons as directed. *To Freeze: Prepare soup and allow to cool. Freeze in a gallon size freezer ziplock bag up to six months. When ready to eat either remove from freezer the night before and allow to defrost in the fridge, place on the counter and allow the soup to defrost for a few hours, or cut the soup out of the freezer bag and place in a large soup pot on low heat.