Fruit.  Soup.  Can life get any better?

I’m not quite sure what peaked my interest with cooking and baking.  It’s just something I’ve always enjoyed doing.  When I was a lot younger, my best friend and I cooked a multiple course dinner for our parents.  And while I don’t entirely remember every dish that was presented to them, I do know they suffered from partially baked bread and a pie that had green chunks of gelatin in it.  But, regardless of that epically failed dinner, I did not quit.

The above mentioned dinner was probably around the same time as I was introduced to the American Girl dolls.  And their cookbooks.  Yes.  Way back when, they used to have cookbooks for all of their historical dolls.

And I have each and every one.

Inside the cookbooks you’ll find two multiple dish meals: breakfast and dinner and then a couple other recipes that are “favorites”.  I’ve often made the breakfasts, but have only on occasion made the dinners in their entirety.  One of the first dinners I made was Kirsten’s.  Kirsten was a doll, based off a fictional girl, whose family immigrated from Sweden.

The meal consisted of  baked sliced ham, Swedish potatoes, cabbage and apple salad, almond rusks, and fruit soup.

Yes. Fruit soup.

I had never heard of fruit soup before and ended up only being able to find a bag of dried fruit from the local Mennonite store to use.  So, it was kind of like a hodge podge of fruit.  I remember we served it hot, like you would a soup, and from what I can remember – we weren’t the biggest of fans and haven’t made it since.

I honestly don’t know what jogged my memory the other day to remember that particular meal, but the next thing I knew I was on Pinterest looking up “fruit soup” and while it seemed this is traditionally a holiday treat, I have an abundance of blueberries leftover from my visit to a local berry farm a couple weekends ago that are in desperate need of being used.  And trust me, I’ve used plenty – and cant wait to share with you all of the blueberry-flavored goodies I’ve made!

But anyhoo.

Blueberry soup sounded like a great idea.  But to save myself from eating a winter dish in the middle of summer,  I forewent the typical holiday spices of cardamom, cinnamon, and ginger and decided to add lemon zest instead.  And it was so stinking good, I probably ate way more than I should have.

But hey, it’s fruit.  Right??

Either way, I’m pretty sure I’m not going to be waiting two decades before I make this again!

Swedish Blueberry Soup

makes 4 cups

• 3 c  blueberries
• 3 tbsp. of maple syrup
• 1 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
• 2 cups water
• zest from one lemon
• 2 tsp. corn starch added to 1 tbsp. of water
• optional toppings: plain Greek yogurt and some granola

Add all of your items to a medium saucepan and set over medium high heat.  Allow mixture to come to a boil, and continue to boil for 5 minutes.  Pour blueberry soup into a glass or metal bowl (I say these two, because I’d be afraid it’d stain plastic) and allow to chill thoroughly.

Once soup is chilled, serve with Greek yogurt and granola.

Now I’m wondering how the warm, spiced version of this tastes.