Yogurt Fruit Soup ala ~DKBB~

I recently had the pleasure of enjoying a wonderful lunch at Sweetwater in Jackson, WY, with one of my dearest friends. We both tried the Cold Pineapple Soup and were blown away! I asked the waitress if the chef shared the recipe; she laughed and said, "No, but if we could get him to sell it we'd make a fortune!" So when I got back home I launched an online search, to no avail. The only thing that came close to what my friend and I thought we tasted in that soup was a Yogurt Fruit Soup recipe. I copied it down and then set to work massaging it into what I thought it should be. I have a feeling this recipe will evolve a lot over time, but this is what I've come up with so far:

Yogurt Fruit Soup ala ~DKBB~

Ingredients:

• 2 cups Greek or regular vanilla or plain yogurt
• 2 cups fruit juice (if possible, use 1 cup juice of the fruit you are using, and 1 cup orange juice for best results; use 2 cups orange juice in a pinch)
• ½ to 1 cup cream
• ½ Tablespoon lemon juice
• ½ to 1 Tablespoon honey
• 2 dashes cinnamon (to taste)
• 2 dashes nutmeg (to taste)
• fresh fruit or berries (whatever is in season: apples, bananas, oranges, plums, pineapple, peaches, dates, etc.)

Preparation:

1. In a bowl, whisk together yogurt, juices, lemon juice, cream, honey, cinnamon and nutmeg. 
2. If you are using large fruit (like pineapple), cut it into smaller pieces.
3. On low speed, blend soup mixture and fresh fruit. You do not want to puree the fruit...you want some chunkies left in the soup.
4. Chill for 2 to 4 (or more) hours.
5. Add cut (or whole) fruit as garnish on each bowl served (optional)

While this is a delicious cold fruit soup, it also serves as a great breakfast dish!

New Places, New Ingredients

We recently relocated from northwestern Nebraska to western Wyoming...back to the Wyoming mountains we love and the State we were both born in. This is the view from our back deck:

© 2013 ~DKBB~

There is a Farmer's Market each Thursday afternoon/evening in the town nearest us. The first 2 times I went, every stall had an overabundance of garlic scapes. (Garlic scapes are the shoots that curl up out of the garlic bulb as it grows; you cut them off once they have curled up.) These were something new to me...we asked folks what they were used for, and most folks said they could be used like garlic. I bought a few and used them in my Butter Garlic Green Beans and they really made the dish pop! I was so impressed, that I next used them in my homemade goulash (should have sauted them first, though).

The next time I went to the Farmer's Market, I bought a boatload of garlic scapes. I sliced them small, blanched them, and froze small packages to be used in veggies dishes, soups, and casseroles over the coming winter months.

I love trying new things, and I am so lovin' livin' in this (new) mountain paradise!