When the weather heats up, soup may be the very last thing on your mind. But with the bevy of fresh ripe tomatoes (especially those juicy heirlooms), ripe tasty berries, sweet fleshy honeydews and cantaloupes and cool refreshing cucumbers, you’d be missing out on a delish summer treat that’ll not only cool you down but replenish some much-needed nutrients.
Chilled Soups — We Love ’em!
We’ve shared our love of good chilled soups with you before and when paired with a vibrant summer salad, these can make for a refreshing and revitalizing summer lunch. Because chilled soups are often full of raw fruit or veggies as well, they make for optimum nutrition. At dinner, if you find you need a little more to sustain you, feel free to top your soup or salad with yogurt, tofu, shrimp or bacon for a little extra added zip!
The Groovy Cucumber
This recipe comes to us from our good friend, The Groovy Foody, and it pairs a powerhouse of nutrition in the form of cucumbers and avocado. In case you missed our post last year on The Top Food Tips for a Healthy Summer we’ll give you a quick reminder on the rousing health benefits of cucumbers:
- Cucumbers are high in water content at 95%, with fiber-rich skin.
- With a good dose of B Vitamins, Vitamin C, silica, phytochemicals potassium and manganese, cucumbers can energize your afternoon doldrums, help regulate blood pressure, stimulate detoxification, and improve the health of your skin, joints and connective tissue.
- Super hydrating as well as alkalizing and chock full of electrolytes, cucumbers are also a great way to help your body recover from the summer heat and that one drink too many. Just a few slices before bed can help you avoid hangover.
Cilantro-Lime Cucumber Soup
We topped ours with succulent, grilled shrimp that had first been tossed in a dry spice rub of toasted onion, garlic, salt, cumin, Mexican oregano, crushed red pepper, black pepper and chile powder. The heat of the spiced shrimp up against the vibrant, cooling flavor of cucumber, lime and cilantro is not to be missed.
- 4 peeled and seeded, medium-sized cucumbers
- 1/2 avocado
- 1 small lime (juiced, fresh-squeezed)
- 1 large handful of cilantro leaves (no stems)
- 1 jalapeno
- 1/3 cup of greek yogurt
- salt and pepper to taste
