A new cucumber soup to try

My dad loves to garden, and he's planted a huge garden this year. As a result, my sister, Rhonda, and I get bags of fresh vegetables every time we visit, and boy, have we been enjoying them. I know she's made pickles with some of the cucumbers (I'm not brave enough to try pickles), and I have made boiled squash, squash casserole, and squash frittata with some of my squash. Daddy also got us both a pressure cooker recently, and I used mine to cook the green beans I received from him over the weekend. They're definitely the best green beans I've ever cooked! But I needed a way to use up some of the cucumbers, and I realized the only Cucumber Soup recipe I've blogged about was one that used condensed cream of celery soup. I didn't want to go that route again, so I looked at some recipes online, made some good guesses about what I could substitute, and the result is a light cucumber soup I absolutely love. (Here's the Andrew Zimmern recipe I finally used as a starting point, but I made so many substitutions and subtractions that I'll share my recipe below.)

A few years ago I fell in love with fat-free Greek yogurt. It tastes a lot like sour cream to me, and so I always feel like I'm being bad even when eating something this good. This cucumber soup recipe uses fat-free Greek yogurt and a few dried herbs, and the flavor is very light and delicious. It's also super easy and fast to whip up!

If you want a nice hot luncheon treat to go along with it, I can recommend this Southern Living recipe. (I halve the recipe and use all summer squash instead of a mix of squash and zucchini. The mixture fits perfectly in a small, 8-inch iron skillet, and is just enough for four servings.)

If you have lots of cucumbers this summer as I do, you may want to try this soup!


Cucumber & Greek Yogurt Soup

2 pounds of cucumbers, peeled (seeds are fine), plus extra for garnish
1-1/2 cups plain, fat-free Greek yogurt
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon garlic salt
1 teaspoon dried dill
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
Pinch of white pepper
1/4 cup olive oil, plus extra for garnish

Add all ingredients to blender and puree until mixture is completely liquified. If desired, garnish each serving with chopped cucumber and olive oil. Store in refrigerator, but can be served immediately. Yields 8-10 servings, depending on whether you serve by the bowl or the teacup!