Peachy- Basil Smoothie

Ingredients:

2 peaches

1/3 cup blueberries

Juice of 1/2 lemon

6-10 basil leaves

1/4 cup of water

1/4 cup ice cubes (optional)

In a blender add 1/4 cup water, then 6-10 basil leaves, 1/3 cup blueberries. Squeeze the juice from half a lemon into the blender. Cut the peach meat away from the peach pit, and add to the blender. Add ice cubes if you want. Blend on med-high for 1-2 minutes until smoothie has reached its desired consistency.

Summer Vegetable Soup

serves 4-6

Ingredients:

6 medium tomatoes, cored and roughly chopped

5 cloves garlic, minced

1 head kale, roughly chopped

2 medium onions, diced

5 small carrots or 2 large carrots

1.5 summer squash or 2 small summer squash

4 cups vegetable or chicken broth

3 tsp apple cider vinegar

1 tsp honey

3 T chopped fresh thyme, or 2 tsp dried thyme

6 fresh basil leaves, or 2 tsp dried basil

1 tsp salt

2 tsp ground pepper

2 T olive oil

I like to cut up all the vegetables ahead of time and place them in bowls, so that everything is ready to toss into the soup once you start cooking. Dice the onions and add to a soup pot with the olive oil. Then slice the summer squash into 1/2 inch circles, and then cut the circles in half.

Put in a bowl until you’re ready to use them. Remove the stems from the kale, and roughly chop the kale into 1 inch sized pieces.

Place in a bowl and set aside. Slice the carrots into 1/2 inch circles and set aside. Cut out the core of the tomatoes and roughly chop them. Try to save as much of the juice as possible.

Put in a bowl and set aside. Mince the garlic. If you are using fresh herbs, mince them and set aside.

Now you can start cooking. Turn the stove to medium and sautee the onions for 1 minute. Then add the tomatoes and their juice, garlic and herbs. Stir for another 30 seconds.  Add the 4 cups of broth and simmer for 5 minutes.  Add the carrots and summer squash.  Allow to simmer for 5-10 minutes, until the summer squash begins to appear soft. After the squash is soft, add the apple cider vinegar, honey, salt, and pepper.  Taste the broth and adjust the ratio of apple cider vinegar, honey, and pepper, to your liking. Add the kale and allow it to cook down.

For omnivores, your favorite italian or chorizo sausage goes well in this soup. For vegetarians, an addition of a can of black beans, calypso beans, or cannelloni beans makes a great addition.

Scoop into bowls and serve. The soup flavors will become stronger over the next twenty-four hours.