I love making soups in the winter to make me feel comfy and cozy (even raw soups can provide some warmth when you use some cayenne pepper for heat), but I also enjoy a nice gazpacho or other uncooked soup to cool off in the summer.For example, today, Hayden and I took some of our fresh summer produce (from my mom's garden and local farmers; you all know I didn't get my mom's green thumb) and transformed it into a simple, yummy "summerstrone." And, so you can see how easy it is, my son, Jacob, was kind enough to film it for us (I must say, his videotaping skills are improving dramatically from the last one).
So, what's a "summerstrone?"
Well, from what I understand, a minestrone is basically an Italian soup with veggies and noddles, and sometimes beans. The actually recipe tends to change with the seasons, which makes it perfect for highlighting our seasonal produce (the fresh flavors really shine in this soup). Our "summerstrone" is our raw vegan summer version.
I always think of minestrone as having ditalini pasta (the tiny cylinder-shaped noodles), along with tomatoes, other veggies and Italian seasonings. Our summerstrone has thinly sliced zucchini/yellow squash (using a spiral slicer to make thin ribbons that I cut into wedges; I made the mock ditalini out of the leftover spiralized zucchini/yellow squash centers, as seen in the video), green beans, corn, and tomatoes in a quick and easy veggie broth (carrots, celery, tomato, onion, garlic, flat-leaf parsley, EVOO, Italian seasonings, sage, cayenne pepper, sea salt, and enough water to make it blend, then strained through a nutmilk bag; don't forget to save the pulp to make veggie burgers).We didn't add beans today, but sprouted lentils, peas and/or chickpeas would be a nice addition. Instead, we garnished our finished soup with more fresh flat-leafed parsley and yellow squash goldfish "croutons."
As promised in the video, here's a quick look at how to make the goldfish "croutons," inspired by the snack crackers:
First, cut a thin strip off the outside of a yellow summer squash. Cut that strip into equal-sized squares. Then, cut a tiny piece off one corner.
Next, cut a tiny piece off the adjacent corner to form the front of the goldfish.
To make the tail, cut a small triangle, as shown, near the back corner.
Then, cut another triangle across from it. Now, you have your finished goldfish.
Continue making enough goldfish to top your soup (and feed to your hungry toddler). So cute :-)Hope you enjoyed our video. We're still unedited and unscripted, so anything can happen in them. Today our phone rang, and I also said some more ridiculous things like, "this is important, but you don't have to do it" (which is totally contradictory) and "woo hoo!" (reminds me of an episode of "How I Met Your Mother"). At least some of my readers/viewers get a kick out of that stuff.
Speaking of getting a kick out of what we say and do in our videos, my blogging friends at Cupcakes Take the Cake featured me on their blog again (along with what they thought was funny in our videos; in case you missed it, here's the first time they mentioned me, and yet another time). Love them, love them, love them! Thanks :-)Anyway, this post is getting a little lengthy, so I'll wrap it up (I need to work on shortening my videos, too). For the fun of it, I'll leave you with a few of my faves for the day.
First off, I'm loving this lavender nail polish I got recently, which I'm wearing in the video (Sarma likes it, too). Also, I've been accessorizing with these lovely earrings I won off of Isle Dance's site more than a year ago (they go perfectly with today's dress; I wish I could still visit her site, as it is now by invitation only. BTW, she took the above photo).Lastly, I've enjoyed reading all your natural beauty tips (coconut oil seems to be a winner). I'm always looking for more, so feel free to add to the comment section of my last post. Thanks again :-)
