Cool Cucumber Soup

 I'm sure somewhere in Russia people are cursing California for having all the sun and year round heat. But you know what, I would gladly trade them some rain and cold for sunshine! If only you could trade light! We're in the thick of a hot summer here in Southern California (that's SoCal to us locals), and short of taking your skin off there's not much you can do if you don't have an air conditioner in your house that's working. Stupid air conditioning! So I have this soup instead. Its yummy  (a vegetable no less!), light, and COLD. Cold is the important word in there folks. Say it with me. Cooooooold. I feel cool already!

 The soup is ridiculously easy to make! So easy your 5 year old could probably make it without your help! That's right, if you can get free labor to save you from having to become even hotter than you already are, then do it! Just remind them how many hours it took to birth them and they should stop complaining. Or you know, bribe them with Popsicles. I made this soup late at night, and even WITH taking pictures I finished in 30 minutes. That's with taking photos! Imagine how fast it'll be without needing to do that! So here you go, Cucumber soup! 

Meet the entire cast! No really, this is it you guys! 

See that greek yogurt I snuck in there? See how secretly healthy this is!?

 So like I said, this is super easy!You know, so you don't have to sweat any more than you have to. First, chop the three cucumbers in half. Then peel them. You could peel it all first then chop it, but I found that it's kinda slippery, so it's better to chop them in half to begin with. This is where you'll run into the only hard part! Pesky seeds! 

Pretty but not so tasty if you get them in your soup! 

Now  I suppose you could just use a spoon to scrape out all the seeds. BUT I LIKE BEING FANCY! So I dug around my fancy drawer and found my melon baller! You guys, no joke, that thing is AWESOME. Use it to de-seed cucumbers. It's amazing! I bet you could use it for all sorts of things besides for melons! 

I cleaned this out in less than thirty seconds! 

After than you're going to cut it in half length wise then chop them in half cross wise. Not TOO small. Maybe an inch in width? You'll be putting it in a blender, so don't get out your rulers or anything! 

Chop, chop, chop!

Next you chop up the mint! I used mint from my garden, which is lemon mint, but you can add any kind you want! I feel like pineapple mint might make for a really interesting flavor! I didn't show how I minced the mint last time, so here's a picture by picture of how! 

Pile  them up on top of each other!

Roll 'em up!

slice em width wise!

Slice 'em length wise! You're done!

 That's the most complicated thing you're going to do! Next is the EASY part! I did this in two batches because I have a small blender. If you have a food processor, seriously use it! You're going to throw in your cucumbers, coconut milk (I used  cream because I wanted it thicker. LEARN FROM ME. Use the cream!), greek yogurt, cumin, a dash of salt, pepper, and mint! You can add your dill too, I forgot to add it in, and had to throw it in at the last minute! 

 


Blend it all up! Mine came out a bit...choppy? Fine granules of cucumber! Not bad at all, but I bet it could be made smoother with a nice blender or food processor. I think my blender is from the 90's. How it's still alive and kicking (mostly) I have NO idea. I think it sold its soul to run forever or something. 

Once your done, pour it into a bowl and adjust seasoning. Just so you know, salt actually becomes saltier when soaking in food over time, so go easy on the salt (again, LEARN FROM MISTAKES!). 

See the granules? It added a fun texture, but I think smoother would be better!

Added dill at the last minute as an afterthought! Oops!

This soup has to chill for at LEAST 3 hours  (makes it thick!), I made mine to rest overnight to have for lunch! It was so cooling and delicious! You can have the option to then cut up an extra cucumber (peeled of course!) and sprinkle it into your bowl. Or just enjoy it without them! I ate it both ways and loved it! The I wish you guys had smell-o-vision. This stuff smelled so good and tasted so light and refreshing! ENJOY! 


Cool Cucumber Soup

 4 Cucumbers peeled, seeded (Only 3. The fourth is for garnish) 

 1 cup greek yogurt

 1 14oz can coconut cream (coconut milk is fine if you can't find the cream, but I can't be blamed if it turns out more watery!) 

2 Tablespoons (or however much you want. I had more than 2) Mint

1/4 Teaspoon cumin 

Salt/Pepper to taste 

Dill to taste 

Directions: 

Peel, de-seed, and chop up 3 cucumbers. Mince the mint. Put everything in a blender (or use an immersion blender) and blend it up! Readjust seasoning if you wish--remember that salt gets saltier in dishes over time! if it's under salted by the time you take it out, just add more salt then! Pour soup in bowl and cover, putting in fridge to sit for at LEAST 3 hours. Overnight is better! 

Magical Tomato Soup

Hello Soup lovers! It's been a while, I know! There's this thing called life (and three other blogs) that tends to get in the way of not only making soups, but posting about them! So here is a magical soup to tide you all over! The magical part is the lack of 8 million ingredients! Normally this soup takes like...45 minutes TOPS to make. But if you're taking photos along the way (and by yourself, mind you!) then it takes more like...an hour and a half....oops? This soup is thick, delicious, and easy to make! I hope you like tomatoes, because this is nothing but! And if you grow your own Pomodoro (or Amish Paste) this recipe is perfect for them!

   Alright lets get this party started! First, grab yourself a glass of wine like I did--because cooking starts with a good glass! Tonight I had this!

Now to introduce to you the cast of characters! I forgot to add the Chicken Broth into the picture! Oops!

 Now the easy part! Take a sip of wine and get to work! Chop up the onions--you don't have to chop 'em up small, you'll be putting it in a blender--and mince the garlic! That's about the only actual work you have to do! 

See how easy that was?! I know chopping and mincing is strenuous, so go ahead and take another drink or two of wine! Next you're going to do the even easier part! Heat up the 2 T of olive oil. As you can tell I added 1 T of butter. This is because butter makes everything better (but it IS optional)!

Then throw in the garlic and onions for a minute or two, then add in the Herbs, Bay Leaf, and Cayenne pepper! let it cook until the onions are soft--about 3 minutes.

Now add in your can of Whole Tomatoes, chicken broth, sugar, salt, and pepper! Stir it, bring it to a simmer, then lower the heat and cover it for 30 minutes! 

 

Whew, you did it! Pour yourself another glass in conradualtions! Now you only have three more things to do! Make the lemon mint yogurt (if you want it. This soup is good without it as well, but the lemony yogurt just tastes sooooo good!). First you need your ingredients!

 Now don't fear this part, I promise it isn't scary! But take some liquid courage if you're the kind that faints easily. Open your yogurt and pour it into a small bowl and mix it around. Then cut your lemon and remove the seeds and put the juice into the yogurt (don't worry if it seems watery, when you put it in the fridge it thickens up again!). Then chop up your mint! 

To mince the mint you get your leaves in a pile then roll them up. Slice them thinly in one direction (aka julien them) and they'll look like this. You CAN just leave them like this. But I like to mince mine. To do so is super easy! Just cut them the opposite direction and you get this!: 

Then add them into the yogurt, give it a stir, cover, and put in the fridge! Once this back braking manual labor is over you just wait for your soup to finish!

 

Once the 30 minutes are up, blend your soup with either a immersion blender or a normal blender! At this point you can (if you want) put in the can of diced tomatoes and let it heat up for a few minutes. I made this before and I personally felt it needed a bit more 'chunk'. 

Pour in bowls, add in the lemon mint yogurt, and you're done! Enjoy with your glass of wine and some crusty bread! This soup is super easy to make and makes 4 bowls! Unless people want seconds. Then you might have to double the recipe--which is what happened to me! Enjoy!

Magical Tomato Soup: 

2 cups chicken or vegetable broth (personally I use chicken, because it gives more depth of flavor)

1 can of  28 oz. whole peeled tomatoes

1 12 oz. can of diced tomatoes (optional)

1 yellow onion

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 Tsp of sugar

a TINY dash of Cayenne pepper (less than 1/8 tsp. just trust me on this.)

Salt & Pepper

1 Tablespoon Herbs de Provence or Italian Mix (or to taste)

2 large bay leaves

2 Tablespoons olive oil

Lemon-mint Yogurt: 

1/2 cup plain greek yogurt

2 Tablespoons fresh mint  (or to taste)

Juice of 1 lemon

Directions: 

Chop up onions roughly, mince garlic. In large soup pot heat up 2 tablespoons olive oil (extra 1 T of butter optional but yummy!). Throw in garlic and onions and let soften, 1 minute. Add in Italian herbs, bay leaves, and tiny dash of Cayenne better. Let soften 2 to 3 minutes. Add in can of whole tomatoes, salt, pepper, then chicken broth. Turn up heat to bring to a hard simmer, then put on low and cover for 30 minutes. When finished use immersion blender or blender to puree it. Add in additional can of diced tomatoes if you want them.

For the yogurt, use 1 cup (I just use one cup of Trader Joes) greek yogurt and put in small bowl. Cut lemon in half and add the juice to yougurt and stir. Mince fresh mint and add into yogurt. Cover and put in fridge until ready to use.