Cool foods can be such a refreshing treat in the heat of summer. We often think of cool sweets—or cool almost sweets like frozen juice pops or smoothies. (See my recipes for intense purple, orange, and green smoothies.)
If you are going out for the day, how about leaving drinks in the freezer for an hour or two before you leave? Nice, slushy juice during a hot day out can be a great way to help your children cool down.
How about frozen, savory treats?
If you are going to fill the freezer with frozen pops, how about adding a few soup pops to the mix?
Some soups are meant to be served chilled. Gazpacho is a tomato-based raw vegetable soup. Borscht is a beet-based cooked then (sometimes) chilled soup. One of my favorite summer soups is a really simple, raw, cold cucumber soup.
Chilled Cucumber Soup
This is an amazingly simple soup to make. If you grow cucumbers and dill in the garden, you can really impress younger children (when they are more likely to be impressed by your amazing feats of cooking) by picking the ingredients and serving the soup within minutes.
- 2-3 cucumbers, peeled, halved, and most or all of the seeds removed
- 1tsp – 1 Tbs fresh dill
- salt and pepper to taste
That’s it. Blend it well in a food processor, and chill.
You can make it creamy with a cup or two of yogurt. You can add stock. White wine vinegar makes it more tangy.
Personally, I like even chilled summer soups to have a kick, but I have one spice-loving child and one spice-averse child, so we generally avoid spices in family dishes unless we can each add our own. The soup tastes great with garlic or onion, but don’t do this if you have a hot date within the next 12 hours.
I’ve had a Greek version with mint, which makes it taste a bit like liquid tsatsiki. Some people like tarragon, which I find cloying, and others add parsley. Plain dill suits me fine. My favorite version includes cucumbers, onions, dill, and yogurt.
If you freeze small servings of the soup, you can take it with you in the morning and it will still be cool by the time you arrive at your lunchtime picnic.
Freeze It, Chill It, Keep It Cool
Kinderville frozen pop molds are a kid summer essential. This high-grade silicone is safe for freezer, refrigerator, dishwasher, and even microwave.
Kinderville freezer trays hold about 1 cup each, which is a perfect serving size for soup on a picnic.
Kinderville silicone jars are perfect for freezing and storing cool summer foods. They comes in small (about 3.5oz or 1/2 cup) and large (about 10oz or just over a cup).
Image © Pawel Strykowski | Dreamstime.com
