A VftBR Special Report: Your faithful bloggers prepare food!

From the View from the Back Row test kitchen:

I was going to say "cook", but that wouldn't be quite right.

A while back, Lauren and I played this gig for the director of the AWCB. In the course of making small talk, I pointed out that I had a cantaloupe that was going to go bad if I didn't eat it pronto, and the director gave me a recipe for cantaloupe soup. Well, last Saturday, Lauren was presented with a large, very ripe cantaloupe, which sounded to us like serendipity and opportunity. Thus, we decided to try the recipe, and blog about it. Because well... why the heck not, you know?

So to make this stuff, you need:



a cantaloupe
some other fruit
lime juice
yogurt
cinnamon
nutmeg
a blender.

Lauren also had some peaches, so we used those. I got some vanilla yogurt, mainly because you've got your choice of plain or vanilla in the quart buckets.

It's really pretty straightforward. First you cut up your fruits:


Although you need to cube the cantaloupe so it will fit in the blender. And then... you dump it in the blender! What we did was put in about a third of the cantaloupe with half a peach and about a quarter of a cup of lime juice, and blended it on low speed until the volume went down. After that we added maybe a cup and a half of the yogurt, with some cinnamon and nutmeg. I didn't measure, so I'm not sure how much! Just go by taste anyway. With everything in, we just blended it until it was mixed, and a nice even color throughout. After that, just pour out and serve! And maybe add some extra cinnamon and mint leaves to make it look pretty.


It ended up about the consistency of potato soup, but was enormously yummy. Although my silly kids wouldn't eat it, but they won't eat anything.

Next time, I think we might try some different things. Pineapple would be great in this, as would using a higher peach to cantaloupe ratio. Fresh mint (as opposed to dried flakes) would be a nicer garnish. And I think using a flavored yogurt, even if it means getting a couple of the little tubs instead of the quart! And everybody kind of wondered what it would be like slightly frozen, or maybe with some ice blended into it.

Overall, this recipe is a major win: quick, easy, tasty, and full of wonderful vitamins! It's cold, so it's really nice summer food, right when cantaloupe is in season.