Two Chilled Summer Soups...and a Popsicle

I love summer soups and I recently whipped up two that are easy and delicious. The first is a lovely Gazpacho and the second is Cantaloupe Soup.

Gazpacho
Based on the recipe found in “Help! My Apartment Has a Kitchen” by Kevin Mills and Nancy Mills
Makes 4 generous portions

5-6 large tomatoes
1 large cucumber
1 small onion (I am not a huge onion fan, so I use about ½ onion instead)
6 tablespoons olive oil
6 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
24 splashes hot pepper sauce (I like it hot, so this is the general amount I use. The actual recipe calls for 3-6 drops of hot sauce. So make it as hot or mild as you like.)
2-3 dashes black pepper (to your taste)

1. Remove the tomato skins by dropping the tomatoes into a large pot of boiling water. Let them soak for about 30 seconds or until the skins start to pucker. Remove the tomatoes from the boiling water and core them. Remove their skin. The skin should peel away very easily using just your hands or a small knife. Cut the tomatoes into quarters and set aside.
2. Slice cucumber in half and remove the seeds. Chop up your onion.

3. You can use either a blender or a food processor for the final step. Put all ingredients into the blender or food processor and blend at high speed for about 20 seconds or until the mixture is just slightly crunchy. If the mixture is having any trouble blending, add 1/4 cup water and blend again. Also, if your blender or food processor is too small to hold it all at once, just divide the ingredients up into 2 batches.
4. Pour the mixture into a large bowl, cover and refrigerate at least a couple hours before serving. I like to let it sit in the fridge about 24 hours to let the flavors merge a bit more before serving.

Most people who enjoy gazpacho probably have their own favorite gazpacho recipe. The reason I like this one is that it’s easy, flavorful, and vibrant, one of the classic Mexican recipes.

My second summer soup is Cantaloupe Soup. Jason from Adventures of a Foodie was kind enough to share his recipe for cantaloupe soup and I was eager to give that one a try.

Cantaloupe Soup
Recipe provided by Jason of Adventures of a Foodie

1/2 cup orange juice
1 medium cantaloupe, cut into 1" pieces
1 cup plain non-fat yogurt
2 tablespoons sugar (optional if cantaloupe isn't sweet)
Mint for garnish

1. Puree orange juice and cantaloupe until smooth, about 20-25 seconds.
2. Add yogurt and sugar and puree until smooth, about 15 seconds.
3. Served chilled.

Easy as can be and this makes an interesting and light chilled soup. I liked it, but I am going to guess that chilled cantaloupe soup might not be a hit with everyone. As an extension of the recipe, I poured the soup into popsicle molds and have been making Cantaloupe Popsicles for Lima. She loves them and thinks they are a huge treat, even though they are really composed of the extremely healthy ingredients of cantaloupe, yogurt and orange juice. So in our house, this recipe was actually a bigger hit as a popsicle than a soup. Many thanks to Jason for sharing this recipe.