One Cantaloupe, Three Soups

The Gang's All Here - One Cantaloupe, Three Soups - Seriously Soupy

(Back Left) Green Tea- Infused Melon Soup, (Back Right) Triple Basil Melon Soup

(Front) Prosciutto and Melon Mint Soup

Cantaloupe, the base of all of the recipes

The beauty of soups (and oh, there are so many beautiful things) is that no two recipes ever have to be the same despite using similar ingredients. Your lentil soup be a veggie-based soup and mine might have pork. Or maybe, you use red lentils and I use brown. The basic components and idea of these soups are the same, but its taste can be very different, depending on your ingredients – making  mom’s chicken soup very different than what you buy in a store. What is so great about this (and rather beautiful) is that the possibilities really are endless with soup making.

In a recent link rundown, I was inspired by Aimee’s three 3-minute chilled soup recipes and decided to give it a go myself by using one base ingredient (cantaloupe) and making three soups out of it.  For this soup recipe entitled, ‘one cantaloupe, three ways,' I made a prosciutto and melon mint soup, a green tea-infused melon soup and triple basil melon soup. Asking me to pick my favorite would be difficult, so I'll just say that they all had very distinctive flavors with strong hints of the sweet and yummy muskmelon.  The prosciutto melon was smoky and packed a punch thanks to the mint; the green tea one was a bit “earthy” but blended well with the apricot and the triple basil melon was like a light and refreshing smoothie-like soup with a peppery finish. After this experiment, I’ll never look at one ingredient the same way and (another beautiful thing about soups) is that you never have to.

Soupy Side Note: Since I only used one cantaloupe to create these soups, the recipe requires ¼ a chunk of cantaloupe, which made one serving. If you would like more servings, I would use one whole cantaloupe per soup and double up on the ingredients. But remember: there are no rules in soup making, so let your judgment and taste testing be your guide.

 Prosciutto and Melon Mint Soup

Soup One - Prosciutto and Melon Mint Soup

Ingredients:
¼ cup of cantaloupe, cubed
½ cup of water
¼ cup of Greek yogurt such a FAGE
2-3 sprigs of fresh mint

Directions:
Cut the cantaloupe, along with the prosciutto. Place in a bowl with water and add the yogurt and mint. Add to a blender and presto, you have soup. Let chill for 2-3 and serve cold.
 

 Green Tea-Infused Melon Soup topped with Dried Apricot- Seriously Soupy

Soup Two - Green Tea-Infused Melon Soup
Ingredients:
¼ cup of cantaloupe, cubed
3-5 bags of green tea
1 tablespoon of honey or agave nectar
1 tablespoon of lemon
3-5 dried apricots
Pinch of ginger or fresh ginger
2 cups of water

 Tea bags seeped in lemon, ginger and honey

Directions:
Boil water. Place tea bags in the water and let seep, along with ginger, lemons and honey for 10 minutes. Add the cantaloupe and apricots to soften. When cool (about 30 minutes), remove the tea bags and take out the apricots and cut lengthwise. Place in the blender, along with the rest of the contents. Let chill for 2-3 hours and serve cold.

Triple Melon Basil Melon Soup topped with Red Basil- Seriously Soupy

Soup Three - Triple Melon Basil Melon Soup

Ingredients:
¼ cup of cantaloupe, cubed
¼ cup of honeydew, cubed
¼ cup of watermelon, cubed
Pinch of ginger
Splash of lime
½ cup of water
2-3 sprigs of fresh basil
Garnish: red basil
 

Medley of Melons - Triple Melon Basil Melon Soup Prep

Directions: Cut up the melons and add them to a bowl with water. Add the ginger, lime and basil (you can also add honey or lemons, if you wish). Blend it together for a yummy and refreshing soup.   Top with red basil. Can be eaten immediately or chill for 2-3 hours.

What soups have you made in many different ways?

Seriously Soupy Serena

Cool and Chilled Soup Links

 Quick Chilled Cantaloupe Soup by Aimée Wimbush-Bourque -- Featured on Simple Bites

Chilled soups in the summer are a delicious treat. They are refreshing and flavorful and oh, so easy to make.  Although I love a classic warm soup, the rising temps are keeping me far away from my beloved soup pot, but that's OK! Especially since my blender has been serving as a trusty alternative. This week, I also discovered three (well, six if you count the three recipes that Simple Bites featured) that have tons of flavor, use minimal ingredients and the only extra work you have to do is blend. Which one sounds good to you?

• Cool and Creamy Tomato Soup - I love tomatoes (as you can see by my tomato pesto soup), so including this cool and creamy tomato soup was an obvious choice. Created by Thousand Soups, another website devoted to soup, the recipe includes cucumbers, green onions, garlic, sour cream, stock and dill. Even better? There is no cooking involved. Simply blend the ingredients for instant soup!

• Cold Basil Soup -  Oh, how I love basil and reading about The Special K Treatment's cold basil soup, I can see she is a fan too. Other than glorious basil, the cold soup includes cucumbers, tomatoes, onions and garlic. Simply blend the ingredients together with water and yogurt for some yummy cold soup.

• Three 3-Minute Chilled Soups - Aimée of Simple Bites created three (yes, three) cold soups that can that only take three minutes to make! A chilled yellow tomato soup, cantaloupe soup with lime and basil and a chilled cucumber soup with mint and yogurt are the featured recipes, which all sound pretty amazing. I am really excited to test out the cantaloupe soup that includes an interesting blend of yogurt, ginger, lime and basil. Even better, Aimée mentions that this soup is her "children's favorite" -- reason enough for to me give this one a whirl. 

Seriously Soupy Serena