by Isabelle Esteves

Created on: August 15, 2008   Last Updated: December 29, 2011

Everyone has their own favorite quick and easy soup. You know the one that you pull out in a pinch. You can whip it up in no time at all and have a quick and easy meal for your family or guests. One of the quickest ways to produce a soup is to make it a cold soup. Fruit soups are beautiful and delicious and impressive while being very fast to make and need very few ingredients and tools.

Red Berry Soup

1 pint each raspberries and strawberries

2 cups light sour cream

1 cup 2% milk

1 cup diet ginger ale

1/4 cup white granulated sugar

2 tbs lemon juice

2 tablespoons orange juice

Place the berries in a blender and puree. If you don't like seeds you can press the berries through a sieve. I personally don't mind them so I skip this step. With a whisk blend in the sour cream, milk, ginger ale, sugar and the juices. Place in a plastic container and chill in the fridge for several hours. Serve is clean glass bowls or goblets. This is so good it can double as dessert.

This recipe is very adaptable to other berries, blueberries, black raspberries or blackberries work equally as well and you may substitute yogurt for the sour cream. I have adapted the recipe so that it is lower in calories and fat. The original used regular sour cream, whole milk and regular ginger ale. Splenda or stevia may be substituted for the sugar to make it even lower in calories. Diet food never tasted or looked so good.

There are many fruits that adapt themselves very well to cold soups. Melons are perfect in texture and color to make a wonderful soup.

Cold Cantaloupe Soup

1 ripe cantaloupe cut into chunk

1 1/2 cups peach nectar

1/4 cup light cream

mint to garnish

Add the cantaloupe and the juice to a blender and puree. Whisk in the cream. Put into a plastic container and chill in the fridge. Place in clear glass or crystal bowls, garnish with mint and serve.This is a very refreshing soup.

When the weather is steamy hot, there is no meal that makes you cool off quicker than a bowl of luscious cold fruit soup. There isn't a better way in the world to get your vitamins and nutrients. Even more important is the fact that these soups look as if they took hour to prepare when in reality it is only minutes. You can impress your friends and family and not even work up a sweat.

You can use the cold soup as a starter for a light meal, followed by an antipasto salad or a cold macaroni or potato salad. It is also great with barbecue chicken or steak. What ever your menu, your cold soup will be the perfect start to a great meal.

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