Foodie Tuesday: Farmer’s Market Soup

Photo by Michigan State University

By Erin Trauth

In my quest to stay hydrated this summer, I’ve found soups to be a fabulous, effortless, and ever-so-delicious way to add extra liquids to my diet.  Even better, as I stated about gazpacho soups last week, summer soups needn’t be served hot – enter this week’s chilled summer soup idea – the farmer’s market soup.

If you’re lucky enough to live in a city that holds regular farmer’s markets in the summer months, you know the awesomeness these events can bring to your food adventures. Fresh, juicy fruits and perfectly ripe vegetables straight from the farmer’s hands to your kitchen – is there anything better?

So, for my next summer soup rendezvous, I decided to load up on all types of seasonal goodies at a local market. Here’s what I ended up with this week:

Ingredients:

• 3 zucchinis, finely chopped
• 3 eggplants, cubed
• 3 cucumbers, cubed
• 5 carrots, finely chopped
• 3 stalks of corn, shucked
• 2 tomatoes, mashed and chopped
• 1 clove of garlic
• Store-bought vegetable broth (2 cups)

Instructions:

Step one

Wash and prepare all vegetables; combine all ingredients in a blender.

Step two

Blend lightly for about a minute – you still want to see small veggie chunks in the mixture.

Step three

Pour into large bowl and serve immediately. If you wish, this soup tastes great heated to warm, too! The combination of these juicy summer vegetables makes this soup versatile and incredibly flavorful without any added ingredients.

While I ended up with these specific ingredients from my local market, you can try with many other combinations, too. Try to grab 2 -3 of each vegetable and add some veggie broth. Try cold, warm, or hot. However you choose to enjoy farmer’s market soup, you’ll be adding to your daily liquid intake and supporting local farmers – score!

Have you made your own farmer’s market soup? What are your favorite veggie combinations?