Travels and Chilled Peach and Apple Soup

 Travelling is certainly more fun when you don’t have to worry about luggage, rental cars and hotels.  Chicago in a day.  It was all work, no play.  It was a day of hunger pains for me.

Breakfast was a low carb bar. That’s all I had handy for early departure.  That had to hold me over until lunch where I ate more than the men I was with. How embarrassing!  The worst part was that I left some on my plate.  I could have very easily mopped it clean however both my lunch dates had stopped eating their chicken sandwiches, leaving uneaten portions on their plates. I had a large garden salad loaded with bleu cheese crumbles.  Then came the fish tacos with garden rice.   It was all so good.  If I was with Ted, my plate would have been licked clean. 

We had lunch at Lindy’s a cute place on the water. 

We ate on the deck

After lunch, we were dropped off at the airport and had a couple of hours before our departure. I roamed around window shopping.  Bought some snack bars and ended up eating a Lemon Luna Bar. Pretty darn good.

While strolling around the airport, I came across some really fascinating, all be it DISGUSTING SOUNDING (to a vegetarian anyway) chocolate…

Look a little closer now and what do you see?

Smoke cured BACON caramel toffee!  Ahhhh, no thanks!   Vosges did have interesting flavors such as chipotle chile chocolate, fire hot dark chocolate, etc.  I was tempted to buy a couple of those but it was very expensive and would take me a month to eat it. I passed.

On the plane home, I had a Pecan Pie Lara Bar.  Still hungry…..

Once home, Ted had ordered a pizza.  It had sundried tomatoes and artichokes on it.  One slice and my bed was calling me.

Exercise was tough. I got up, brushed my teeth, put my top on, hair up then went back to bed. Ugg!  Ted got up at 4:30 so I dragged myself out of bed and got a light leg work out in with a 6 mile easy run.  Shane was happy to run again after 2 days off.

 Another “cruisin’” recipe.

Food on a cruise is one of the main attractions.  You can eat all day long if you like.  One of the most fascinating aspects of cruise food for me is all the different unique blends of flavor.  Since I’m such a foodie, when I’ve been on my cruisin’ adventures, I pick up the chef’s cookbook.  The books are always available and, if you ask, the chef will sign it for you.

This particular recipe comes from “A Culinary Courses Journey” from Princess Cruise lines.  The book identifies the journey where the food was featured:  Canada/New England.  Leave New York to Halifax to St.John New Brunswick.  Bar Harbor, Maine to Boston and finally, Newport Rhode Island.  What an adventure. What food!

Chilled Peach and Apple Soup with a hint of rum and mint.

Add a little Myers Rum and garnish with mint, you have the perfect dessert!

• 2 cups softer style apples such as Golden Delicious.  Peel, core and chop
• 1 cup apple cider
• 2 cups peaches, peel and chop
• 1 orange: zested and juiced *When zesting first, the squeezing  of the orange while zesting helps to loosen the juices, making it easier to squeeze.
• 6 oz plain yogurt
• 1 cup fresh heavy cream
• 1 TBS honey
• 1/3 cup Myers Rum
• cinnamon
• nutmeg
• fresh mint for garnish

Using your food processor, puree the apples with the apple cider until smooth. Set aside in a bowl.

Now blend the peaches with the orange juice and zest until smooth.  Take out about 1/4 cup of peach puree and set aside to use as garnish when serving.

Add the apple puree back into the mix with the peach puree.  Add the yogurt, cream, honey and rum.  Mix well.  Stir in the cinnamon and nutmeg.  Chill until ready to serve, at least 1 hour.

This is a smooth, creamy, fruitful delight.  The rum adds that little adult kick that we so need at the end of a good, hard day.

Are you a fan of cold, fruit soups?

Joanne