Welcome back and happy Martin Luther King Day! (I just realized what day it is:-) I hope you had a fantastic weekend and continue to do so today. Ours was a healthy mix of fun and productivity, which is my favorite combination. I also had two successful experiments over the weekend! That is always a plus in my world. One of them is today’s delightful fruit concoction and the other will come towards the end of the week. You will want to come back for it:-)
Okay, today we have another option for your Valentine’s Day food fun. The colors are not nearly as vibrant as the smoothie recipe from last week, but the pink hues are there so it still works. Okay this soup will give your blender a little workout. We will use it for the two fruit bases and then the cream. I know fruit soup is more traditional in the summer and we will definitely bring it back once it warms up, but I couldn’t resist trying one for our February festivities. If you are new to fruit soup, welcome! It is a delightful and refreshing little treat. In my opinion it serves best as an appetizer or a dessert. As my husband said it is refreshing, light… and not very filling. I agree with him and wouldn’t encourage serving this as your main dish.
Um… I know the cream comes last, but I want to start with it, because I was really quite proud with how it turned out and how simple it is. I am finally starting to branch out and do my own raw cashew experiments! For the cream place your soaked and drained cashews into blender with almond milk and agave. Blend until creamy. I still had little cashew bits after blending mine through a cycle so I used my highest speed and let it run until it looked completely smooth. This stuff is so good. It is taking all my restraint not to drink it straight from the bowl.
Okay, now I am ready to move onto the fruit bases. You could totally blend it all at the same time if you had a blender big enough. I don’t think they really come in that size so start with the strawberry base and blend everything together. If you like a few chunks don’t blend it as much. If you prefer your soup to be nice and smooth then let your blender get some more exercise. Pour the base into the bowls; I have outlined some proportions in the directions below, but really you can mix it as you like. 
I thought cherries would make a great addition to this soup, but you could do any red or pink fruit you would like: raspberries, watermelon (summer), guava or any other appropriately colored fruit you can think of. The hard part about the cherries is you have to remove all the seeds. This will be your longest step. Once that is done, throw everything into the blender and mix until smooth. Add cherry soup to your strawberry base and then top if with some of our cashew cream and you are set! Remember you can do whatever proportions you want or pour everything into a large bowl, mix and then serve to keep the flavors evenly distributed. 
Strawberry Base
4 C strawberries
1 C coconut milk or yogurt
1 ½ C almond milk (or any other milk options)
1/3 C orange or apple juice
2 T almond butter (optional)
4 T agave/honey
- Put everything into blender and mix until smooth. Serve 1-2 cups into each bowl as your base and set aside.
Cherry Addition
2 C cherries
½ C almond milk
1 t lemon juice
2 T agave/honey
- Pit the cherries and place everything into blender and mix until smooth or almost smooth if you like a few chunks. Pour ½ – 1 cup into each bowl with the strawberry base.
Cashew Cream
1 C raw cashews, soaked for at least a couple hours (preferably overnight)
1 C almond milk
2 T agave/honey
- Drain cashews and blend all ingredients together until smooth and creamy. (I blended it twice just to make sure it was as smooth as possible.) Add cream to each bowl until the taste is to your liking.
* Depending on how much cream you use per bowl you might need to make a double batch. If you have cream leftover it makes for great fruit dip or spoon dip:-)
I also added a cinnamon garnish to the top of mine. Totally optional, but I loved it!
The Scent Of Oranges 