If You Can Make A Smoothie, You Can Make These 3 Summer Soups

By Zoe Bain

PHOTO: COURTESY OF THE SPLENDID SPOON.

Summer and soup are two words we typically don’t want to hear in the same sentence. But chilled soups are a whole different story, especially when they’re so easy to pull off that you hardly even feel like you’re cooking.

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For light, simple, summery soups featuring fresh ingredients, we turned to Nicole Chaszar, founder of The Splendid Spoon — a company that makes plant-based, small-batch, drinkable soups using high-quality ingredients. She set us up for future scorchers with three delicious recipes for chilled summer soups that are nearly as easy to make as any smoothie. Since they each get puréed in a blender before serving, there’s minimal prep work involved. Plus, all three can be frozen for up to a month. Homemade summer dinners just got a whole lot more interesting!

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Chilled Sweet Potato & Cashew Soup
Serves 3-4

Ingredients
1 large sweet potato (sweet potatoes vary in size, so pick one of the biggest you see!)
¼ cup (about a handful) raw, unsalted cashews
½ cup loosely packed cilantro
1 pinch cayenne pepper
½ tsp ground cumin
½ tsp sea salt
1 quart water

Instructions
1. Preheat oven or toaster oven to 425°F.

2. In a bowl, pour some of the water over the cashews so they are fully submerged, and set aside.

3. Wash your sweet potato, but don’t worry about peeling it. Slice it in three pieces, wrap the thirds together in tinfoil, and place the wrapped potato on a baking sheet in the oven or toaster oven.

4. Set the timer for 40 minutes — depending on the size of your potato and the strength of your oven, it could take a little more time to cook. You want to be able to insert and remove a knife easily from the potato.

5. When your potato is done, open the tinfoil carefully and let the potato cool for a few minutes before handling. Peel the skin and discard it.

6. Put your peeled potato pieces in a blender along with the soaked cashews and the soaking water, cilantro, cayenne, cumin, sea salt, and about ¾ of the remaining water.

7. Blend until very smooth — you want a thin milkshake consistency. Add the last of the water if necessary.

8. Place in refrigerator for 1 hour to chill before enjoying. Soup will cool faster if you portion it into 3 to 4 separate bowls, and will keep for 2 to 3 days in the fridge or up to 1 month in the freezer. (To freeze: Pour into plastic containers with some room at the top to allow for expansion in the freezer.)

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Chilled Green Soup
Serves 3-4

Ingredients
2 ripe avocados
2 ½ cups loosely packed spinach
Juice and zest from 1 lemon
1 tbsp freshly grated ginger
½ tsp sea salt
1 pinch red pepper flakes
2 tbsp olive oil
3 cups boiling water

Instructions
1. Scoop out the soft inside of your avocados and put into a blender with the spinach, lemon juice and zest, grated ginger, sea salt, pepper flakes, and olive oil.

2. Bring a pot of water to boil and then measure out 3 cups

3. Pour the hot water over your mixture in the blender and immediately put the cover on. Allow the mixture to sit about 5 minutes, so the hot water cooks the spinach a bit.

4. Vent your blender to release any steam, then re-cover and blend until very smooth. Feel free to add a little more water to achieve a milkshake-like consistency (you can use cold water now).

5. Place in refrigerator for 1 hour to chill before enjoying. Soup will cool faster if you portion it into 3 to 4 separate bowls, and will keep for 2 to 3 days in the fridge or up to 1 month in the freezer. (To freeze: Pour into plastic containers with some room at the top to allow for expansion in the freezer.)

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Chilled Creamy Cauliflower & Leek Soup
Serves 3-4

Ingredients
1 small leek (dark green parts removed and discarded)
4 cups cauliflower (about 1 small cauliflower head)
¼ cup apple cider vinegar
1/3 cup loosely packed fresh dill
½ tsp sea salt
1 pinch red pepper flakes
2 ½ tbps olive oil
3 cups boiling water

Instructions
1. Slice the white and pale green parts of the leek into thin pieces.

2. Chop the cauliflower into very small (about ½ inch) pieces. It doesn’t matter what the pieces look like because this soup will be puréed, but you want very small pieces so they soften up when you add the boiling water.

3. Put all ingredients into a blender and cover tightly.

4. Allow the mixture to sit about 15 minutes so the hot water cooks the cauliflower.

5. Vent your blender to release any steam, then re-cover and blend until very smooth. Feel free to add a little more water to achieve a milkshake-like consistency (you can use cold water now).

6. Place in refrigerator 1 hour to chill before enjoying. Soup will cool faster if you portion it into 3 to 4 separate bowls, and will keep for 2 to 3 days in the fridge or up to 1 month in the freezer. (To freeze: Pour into plastic containers with some room at the top to allow for expansion in the freezer.)

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