Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Kristen Suzanne's Sun-Drenched Sicilian Soup


Seeing as there are only 3 more weeks of summer left, I am determined to make as many raw soups as I can to enjoy the remaining bounty of garden-fresh produce. Not my garden, mind you. I gave up trying to have a veggie garden after 4 years of aphid-chewed crucifers, blighted tomatoes, sunburned basil, woody eggplants, and puny zucchini (hey, that sorta rhymes!) Now I enjoy the fruits of others' garden labors and save myself the agony of watering, mulching, and weeding a garden that fails me time and time again. Green thumb, I do not have. I can just imagine a little garden Yoda shaking his head at me.

As I've stated before, one of my very favorite summer foods is fresh, juicy tomatoes. I keep buying them by the bagful and they get used up in a variety of ways. Last night, I used 2 gigantic beefsteak tomatoes and some fresh basil from my Dad's garden to make Sun-Drenched Sicilian Soup from Kristen Suzanne's Easy Vegan Raw Soups.

This is my favorite kind of raw soup - just dump everything into the Vita-Mix...



And blend away! There are sun-dried tomatoes, fresh tomatoes, zucchini, fennel bulb (I subbed celery), EVOO, garlic, fresh basil, dried rosemary, oregano & cinnamon, sea salt & pepper, and apple cider vinegar in there. So fresh and tasty!


On the side, we enjoyed a simple spinach salad with chopped cucumbers, carrots, celery, pine nuts, chopped dates, lime juice, EVOO, and sea salt. I would have used lemon juice, but I only had fresh limes on hand.


We loved the soup! It was super thick and velvety, likely because there is no water added to the ingredients. It was full of fresh summer flavor and made a great meal on a hot night!



2 comments:

Hannah said...

I know this is an older post, but it has be craving summer like nothing else! I can't wait for all the produce to flood the markets... I'm saving this raw soup idea for warmer days.

Bethany said...

I completely agree...I can't wait for the farmers' markets to arrive! I'm curious and excited to see what I can get here in Colorado...it will be my first summer here. And you can't go wrong with Kristen's raw soups...they are fantastic!