Ok! Effort to kickstart the foodie hobby threads. It's summer time! It's hot and humid. You're (at least [i]I'm[/i]) craving fresh and cold recipes because it is just hecka hot. What are your favorites recipes that you like to break out in the summer? Personally once summer rolls around I start making [i]lots[/i] of desserts and things and use a boatload of citrus-based recipes. For those of us who aren't in the middle of summer, feel free to share the recipes you like to make during the summer anyways! :) I thought I'd start off by with the strawberry soup that I mentioned in another thread earlier today. Strawberry soups are really great because they're creamy and cold and delicious. Also they're just really pretty to make! They're not really a meal per se, they're more of a dessert or a snack. But it has soup in the title so you can pretend ;) I tried a different recipe than usual tonight - with my own flair added in of course - and I took a bunch of pictures with my webcam (and much difficulty lol) Excuse the cluttered kitchen lol, I blame my roommate. [size=4][b]Chilled Strawberry Soup[/b][/size] [url=http://obsessionist.net/post/6360376905/strawberry-soup-recipe-makes-2-cups]This is the recipe that I adapted[/url] [u]What you'll need:[/u] 1 lb of fresh strawberries, washed and hulled (that means remove the top bit with the leaves) Sugar 1 orange 1/3 cup of milk (the recipe calls for milk, I used cream) 1/4 cup of water 1/2 cup of vanilla yogurt (the recipe calls for plain yogurt but I've always preferred the little extra flavor vanilla gives it) Mint for garnish if you want to be a fancypants :P [u]Directions[/u] Pretend these are high quality photos that look like I made this recipe in a kitchen in the middle of a sunlit meadow overlooking the sea like most food blogs :P Chop your washed and hulled strawberries. It doesn't have to be too fine a chop, but don't leave huge chunks [IMG]http://i491.photobucket.com/albums/rr274/The_Standard_Artbox/Cooking/Photo1.jpg[/IMG] Take your orange and zest it. If you want a stronger orange flavor in your soup, just use two oranges :) [IMG]http://i491.photobucket.com/albums/rr274/The_Standard_Artbox/Cooking/Photo3.jpg[/IMG] After doing so, juice the orange[s]. Combine the strawberries, orange juice, zest, and 1/4 cup of water, as well as a teaspoon of sugar, in a small saucepan. I also used about two tablespoons of lemon juice, just for fun. [IMG]http://i491.photobucket.com/albums/rr274/The_Standard_Artbox/Cooking/Photo5.jpg[/IMG] Set your burner on low, and let it simmer for about 20 minutes. While it's cooking, mash your strawberries with the back of your spoon. [IMG]http://i491.photobucket.com/albums/rr274/The_Standard_Artbox/Cooking/Photo6.jpg[/IMG] This is pretty hard, or at least it was for me because my saucepan is a bit too large to conveniently do this. Don't worry if you don't get them all perfectly mashed, you'll be blending it later. After about 20 minutes it should have a sauce-like consistency. Leave it cool to about room temperature. During this period you can add more sugar to make it sweeter if you so desire. I added about a tablespoon more. After that, take your 1/2 cup of yogurt and your 1/3 cup of milk/cream [IMG]http://i491.photobucket.com/albums/rr274/The_Standard_Artbox/Cooking/Photo10.jpg[/IMG] and combine that with your strawberry sauce in a blender, and blend it all together. I ended up adding about one more tablespoon of yogurt to make it just a taaad creamier. You can add milk/cream and yogurt as desired to reach the consistency you want. Afterwards you should be left with this: [IMG]http://i491.photobucket.com/albums/rr274/The_Standard_Artbox/Cooking/Photo12.jpg[/IMG] Looks a bit like a melted strawberry milkshake, really. Put it in your fridge to chill for a few hours. This is best served really really cold. I enjoy it for desserts in lieu of ice cream, as I'm not a big ice cream fan. I also like it for breakfast with a few slices of banana placed in it. EDIT: You [i]can[/i] just skip the simmering stage in a lot of strawberry soup recipes, however I find that the ones that have you cook the strawberries first are creamier and basically just better. But if you're in a hurry that's what you can do. Alright, now you. Summer recipes, go!