Cooling Nourishment For Summer Days
With Summer, and the heat, perspiration, and longer, light-filled days, the body does better with less. Eating smaller, more frequent meals/snacks, featuring more fruit, more vegetables, more fluids – more cooling nourishment – and less nuts, meat, and dairy, which are warming. Within the Mini Me Yoga programme, founded by Kate Bartram-Brown, we encourage children to create positive words to both water and food. Using mindfulness when choosing what we eat helps our bodies by nourishing them and ensuring that we look after ourselves. Through the programme we are not only looking after our emotional and mental health but also our physical health to create happy, healthy children.
Eating and cooking in accordance with the seasons and paying attention to what’s growing at different times of the year, you’ll find that food actually tastes better. It sings on the palate and energizes the body and mind with each bite. When I made this connection, I instantly noticed myself becoming less sluggish, more productive, and my body began to look and feel more alive!
There is a vitality, life force, and magick in food that is at its peak when it grows naturally in the Earth and isn’t forced in artificial environments. Try tasting a tomato in Winter and a tomato in Summer and you’ll get my point clearly. The human body is a natural, growing thing as well, with its own relationship to the cycles of the seasons, and it responds best to consuming food grown in harmony and accordance with nature.
So today, I present to you a simple, super flavorful, and quick to make recipe for a Watermelon Soup. Yes, you read that correctly. Watermelon soup.
The first time I came across a “watermelon gazpacho” several years ago, my initial reaction was a mixture of confusion, doubt, and curiosity. I had never had a gazpacho that did not call for tomatoes, and as someone who (1) does not mind, but does not prefer, sweet things, and (2) does not mind, but does not prefer, cold soups, I was prepared to find it “okay” or “interesting” at best, but nothing I would ever seek out again, let alone recreate in my kitchen.
Wrong.
I was instantly captivated by the texture of tiny watermelon pulp bursting in my mouth, sweetness like velvet, accentuated by the tang of fresh citrus, and the zing of ginger and chili pepper. A feast for all the senses that you can savor with each spoonful! And I was impressed that the thought, “I’m having a smoothie in a bowl right now” never crossed my mind. It struck a refreshing balance between sweet and savory, and the taste and Summertime nostalgia of watermelon was never lost or muddled.
And so this has now become one of my signature dishes during the Summer – popular amongst my family, friends, and especially the kids! It’s a cooling, refreshing, and extremely nourishing soup that is 100% vegan, raw, gluten-free, refined sugar free, and delicious. I highly recommend using organic ingredients and picking the best watermelon you can find.
A wonderful appetizer or a meal all on its own, this soup is a perfect pick-me-up for a hot, Summer day.
Chilled Watermelon Soup with Cucumber & Jicama
{Gluten-Free, Vegan, & Raw}
Active Prep Time: 10 minutes
Inactive Prep Time: 1-2 hours
Cooking Time: none
Yield: about 1 quart
3 c seedless watermelon, roughly diced
1/2 c cucumber, peeled and seeded
1/4 c fresh squeezed orange juice
1/8 c fresh squeezed lime juice
2 teaspoons ginger puree
scant 1/4 teaspoon Himalayan pink salt
1-2 pinches cayenne (optional)
3-4 sprigs mint leaves
1/4 c jicama, peeled and finely diced (can substitute a tart apple, Asian pear, daikon radish, or additional cucumber)
1/4 c cucumber, peeled, seeded, and finely diced
1/3 c seedless watermelon, finely diced
1/8 c watermelon rind (the pale green/white part), finely diced
extra virgin olive oil, sea salt and/or cracked black pepper, to garnish
What you’ll need: Food processor or blender, large glass mason jar or container
1. Combine watermelon, cucumber, juices, mint, and seasonings into food processor or blender and run until mostly smooth.
2. Transfer to your glass mason jar or container and add the finely diced radish, cucumber, watermelon, and watermelon rind and stir to combine. The watermelon rind adds nice tartness and texture, and I also liked using it since it means less waste when breaking down the watermelon.
3. Chill for 1-2 hours to allow flavors to come together.
4. Serve in chilled bowls and garnish with a swirl of your favorite olive oil, a sprinkle of sea salt, black pepper, and additional herbs or diced cucumber, watermelon, or jicama if you like.
This soup will keep for up to 4 days in the refrigerator, but I doubt it’ll last that long! To have something be so easy to make and wonderfully delicious and nutritious is a testament that when ingredients are in season and full of vitality and flavour, allow them to speak for themselves.
This is such an important part of the revolution – discovering for yourself that no matter how busy or demanding your life may be, you can make time to make food with love, to enjoy it with love, and to share it with love. To remember how sacred it is to eat and to live in harmony with Nature and the Universe.
Because when love is the foundation for what we eat, it becomes the foundation for everything that we do, everything that we create, and everything that we dream. And through this alchemical process, each of us can be part of this revolution, regardless of culture, skin color, beliefs, age, gender, or anything else. This transcends all of that. It’s about bringing more love to the world and truly making a difference for generations to come. All of us.
We are what we eat. So let’s make food magickal again, shall we?
For more recipes and ideas visit www.minimeyoga.com
I am Jonathan G. Itchon and I am a plant based chef specializing in high-vibrational, allergen-friendly foods. I am also a Healer in the revered lineage of King Salomon, as well as an award-winning actor, writer, counselor, and fitness instructor. My inspiration for sharing my passion for food comes from my own journey of healing my relationship to food. I used to battle with food and was very sick for much of my earlier life. But through learning how to choose what I eat based on how it makes me feel and not on a diet, a trend, or what I was taught I’m supposed to eat, I discovered a whole new way of living filled with joy, vitality, and possibility! It is my intention to pay that forward, and to support others in learning to love food through finding the foods that love them back. To bring healing, to restore joy, and to help all of us remember how to honor and respect the sacred ritual of eating so we can live in a better, more peaceful, world for ourselves and all generations to come.
Feel free to follow me on social media to keep up with my world-changing adventures and my upcoming cookbook:
My chef Instagram: @thecanaryfiles
My Healer/Spirituality Instagram: @jonathanlightbridge
Medium: https://medium.com/@lightbridge
Facebook: Facebook.com/jonathangitchon
Email: itchon@me.com
Images may be subject to copyright.
Our Home School programme for the Summer Holidays is still available. For more information or to purchase contact your nearest ambassador or email: info@minimeyoga.com.
