Zucchini basil soup

Approx. 150 Calories per serving. Recipe makes 2 servings.

Last week at the farmer's market, I bought a huge bouquet of basil. It was starting to wilt, so I needed something to use it up. This summer soup recipe did the trick. I had hoped this would be a quick recipe, but it actually took about 25 minutes of cooking time, because the potatoes just wouldn't get soft. I even cut them into small cubes. Despite the extra time it took, it was well worth the wait.

I ate this soup for lunch hot off the stove and it was quite good. Then, for dinner I tried eating the leftovers as a cold soup. It wasn't so good cold. However, instead of heating it all the way up, I just warmed it to room temperature. The flavor of the basil really popped at room temperature. When I make this again, I plan to let it cool to room temperature before serving it.

This tasty soup can be served as an appetizer or with some nice crusty bread as a main dish.

Ingredients

• 1 cup onion
• 2 cups zucchini
• 1 cup potatoes (I used baby red, with skins)
• 1 cup (packed) chopped basil
• 3 cups water
• 1 tsp olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Chop onion and potatoes.
2. Add to saucepan with 3 cups water.
3. Boil until nearly tender.
4. Julienne peel (about half) the zucchini and save for later.
5. Chop zucchini and add to saucepan.
6. Boil until everything is soft.
7. Add basil, salt, and pepper.
8. Boil for 2 additional minutes until basil is wilted and soft.
9. Remove from heat.
10. Blend until smooth (I like to use an immersion blender, rather than pouring into a regular blender).
11. Add olive oil.
12. Serve garnished with zucchini skin strips (I microwaved these for 1 minute to make them tender) and fresh basil.