Cold Berry Soup

As a child, this was my absolute favorite summer dish!! When we lived in Washington next to all those Blackberry bushes, we would always have Blackberry soup - but since then, we've done peach and ginger, strawberry, and mixed berry. Whichever you chose, it's delicious! This, though, is strawberry soup! I typically serve this as a side for summer salads or as the 'soup' course for a fancier summer dinner! You can also cut some of the liquid and up the sugar and make it a smoothie!

Cold Berry Soup

• 4 cups berries (frozen work just fine if you don't have fresh - just defrost them a little bit)
• 2 cups plain yogurt
• 1/2 cup O.J.
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup sugar (or to taste)
• Cinnamon or Ginger to taste

--Combine all and blend until smooth.
--Makes 5 cups.

Hints and short cuts:
You'd think with a recipe this simple, there would be no short cuts, but there are!! Sometimes if I don't have OJ, I just use all water. Or, if I have frozen juice concentrate in the freezer, I just use a spoonful of that with the cup of water. If I don't have plain yogurt on hand, I skip the sugar and just use vanilla yogurt - it's just as good. Also, I tend to make this in half-batches because I've learned that if I make the whole batch, there are never any leftovers for another night! :)