Cold Kefir Soup

Looks like the heat and the humidity, New York's two best friends, are still monopolizing the area. Here is another dish to cool yourself off on a hot summer day - Cold, refreshing vegetables soup.

Cold Soup with Kefir

• 
  
  Kefir Plain 20oz (Cultured Milk - resembles liquid yogurt) You can find anywhere these days
• 
  
  1 bunch of radishes
• 
  
  4-5 cucumbers ( I use Kirby)
• 
  
  3 potatoes
• 
  
  4 eggs
• 
  
  Dill+Cilantro+Scallion - Handful of each
• 
  
  Salt 1/2 tbsp
• 
  
  Bottled water or Cooled boiled water ( have a few cups on hand)

1. Place potatoes in a pot with water and cook 15 min. At this point, add eggs, and cook for another 9 min. Drain, cool under cold water.

2. While that cooking, make the base for the soup: Mix kefir and 3 cups of water to begin with, stir, salt. The consistency should remind you of heavy cream. Refrigerate while prepping the veggies.

3. Prep veggies: chop finely ( 1/4 inch) radishes, cucumbers, cooled eggs, potatoes, herbs ( even more fine)

4. Now assemble: Pour the base into veggie mix, stop at the consistency you prefer. I do it approx. 50-50 liquid to veggies.

5. Mix well, and taste for salt. The soup will taste pretty bland if under salted, so make sure you add enough and mix well to dissolve all the salt before you add more) Serve cold.

6. Optional additions:

Grated garlic - will remind of Tzatziki Sauce ( I actually never tried this)

Bologna - the soup will be more filling and have an extra layer of texture.

Enjoy!

Chunky Lamb Soup

This fragrant lamp soup, full of chunky veggies & Middle Eastern spices will have your neighbors wondering what you cooking. In a good sense, of course! 
It is quite flexible in making - you can use variety of vegetables you have on hand. When I get low on groceries, and have one of every vegetable, I turn to this good "clean-out-your-fridge" kind of recipe. However, some items are a must: red bell pepper, carrot, garlic. Other items are pretty interchangeable. This time I used what I found in my fridge. You can do the the same :)
Also, you can make it as chunky as you like, just add water accordingly and dice veggies per your preference.

Chunky Lamp Soup

1 Carrot
1 Red Bell Pepper
1 Italian Green Pepper
1 Light Green Zucchini
1 Yellow Zucchini
1 Med. Onion
2 Med. Potatos
1 Tomato
2 Garlic Cloves
Approx. 2 cups of lamb meat cut into small (1/2") pieces
1 tsp coriander seeds, mashed
1 tsp sweet paprika
1/4 tsp cumin seeds, mashed
2-3
Salt, lots of freshly ground pepper
Fresh herbs, my standard mix: dill+cilantro
Cooking Oil

1. Cover the bottom of a large pot with some cooking oil ( I use non-stick and start with a couple of tbsp, then add more if needed). Add onion, cook until translucent.

2. Add meat + Spices+Garlic+Salt, Pepper. Cook until meat is starts to get brown edges, around 10-15 min ( also, this is a good time to add hot flakes if you like spicy food)

3. Add veggies - you can add them all at once if you have them ready, but I usually start chopping while my meat is cooking, so I add them as I have them ready: carrots, peppers, zucchinis, etc. This way each newly added item cooks for about 2 min before I add a new roommate ;) Saute all veggies for about 10 more min, until all liquid has evaporated and they start to caramelize a little.

4. When everything looks cooked, add 6 cups of water ( less if you want the soup more chunky) and bring to a boiling point, then simmer on the lowest for 30 min.

5. Add fresh herbs when ready to serve.

Enjoy!