Chow Vegan

It’s hard to believe that on Monday, summer would be over and fall begins. It seems like just yesterday I was enjoying a nice white peach. Oh wait, it was yesterday. There’s still time to get in on some late season summer produce. Hurry!

Chilled White Peach Soup
Serves 2

1 large white peach, plus an additional peach for garnish (if you want to be all fancy)
1/4 cup orange juice
2 tablespoons apple juice
Agave nectar to taste
Mint to garnish

Peel, pit and chop the peach. In a blender, combine the peach, orange juice, apple juice and agave nectar if necessary to sweeten to taste and blend until smooth. Transfer to a bowl and chill for about an hour.

Serve with a mint garnish and a few peach slices on top.

No Croutons Required is a monthly food blogging event hosted by Tinned Tomatoes and Lisa’s Kitchen. This is my entry for September’s theme of a soup or salad with fruit, just in time to enjoy a last bite of summer fruit.

I finally managed to tear myself away from the wonderful strawberries and peaches that I’ve been eating lately to focus on some of the other summer fruits that abound. Next up, is watermelon. Instead of the usual wedges, I made a refreshing, two-toned chilled watermelon soup.

I got the red watermelon at the local farmer’s market. Unfortunately, I didn’t see the yellow ones and had to get that at the grocery store. It wasn’t quite as sweet as I expected, but I’m hoping to find it at the farmer’s market to try as it’s supposed to be sweeter than the red.

Red and Yellow Watermelon Soup
Serves 2

4 cups ripe red watermelon, seeded and cut into pieces
4 cups ripe yellow watermelon, seeded and cut into pieces
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
Agave nectar to taste
Salt to taste
Fresh mint sprigs for garnish

In a bowl, combine the red watermelon, half of the lime juice and the agave nectar and salt to taste. Blend until smooth, place in a covered container to chill in the fridge for at least an hour. Keeping it totally separate, do the same for the yellow watermelon.

To serve, hold one container in each hand and pour at the same time so that there’s one color on each side. To make a fancy decoration, use a toothpick to swirl a bit of one color into the other. Garnish with a mint sprig and serve.

Lucky 8/8/08 Giveaway!
Don’t forget to enter the giveaway here, only a few more days until it closes on August 6, 2008.

Another broiling heat wave to start off the work week and no cool down in sight until the weekend. Luckily, I have ice cream sandwiches to cool and comfort me. For an extra special treat, fancy it up with a fresh cherry sauce and a sprinkle of crushed pecans.

I wish I could say I made the ice cream sandwiches myself but I didn’t. I’m not doing any more than I have to in this heat. And there’s no reason to, not when there’s So Delicious ice cream sandwiches in the freezer.

They’re produced by the same people who make the Purely Decadent ice cream pints. By far, the best, non-dairy vegan ice cream I’ve tried to date and I’ve tried a lot of them.

A childhood favorite, the ice cream sandwiches are exactly as I remember them. Smooth and creamy with just the right mouth-feel, if you didn’t know any better, you wouldn’t believe it’s non-dairy.