Herbs & Spices

Deliciously cinnamon-y pecan cupcakes are a wonderfully warming treat on a chilly winter day. I like to have mine smothered in Cream Cheese Frosting (page 95) with a cup of dandelion root coffee (you can find the recipe on my website, elanaspantry.com). Garnish these cupcakes with a few chopped pecans.

Tart chunks of green apple and warming cinnamon make this healthy and delicious cupcake the ideal after-school snack. Pack, unfrosted, in a lunch box along with a small container of Cream Cheese Frosting (page 95) for a special school-lunch dessert.

Healthy bioflavonoids in orange zest and nutritious antioxidants in rosemary make this nourishing delight the perfect complement to a late afternoon cup of chai.

Try these aromatic, child-pleasing, cinnamon-walnut cupcakes on a Sunday morning. The comforting scent wafting from your kitchen will wake up all of your little sleepyheads. I like to serve these bare, without frosting, because the top of this cupcake is a streusel delight.

Speckled with vanilla beans and dried figs, these light and delicate cupcakes make a sophisticated end to a lovely meal, or a satisfying accompaniment to afternoon tea. Try these plain or with Vegan Buttercream (page 95).

These are my go-to cupcake because they’re great with any frosting.

If you’d like an accompaniment to summer fruit soups but don’t want to turn on the oven, these slightly sweet scones are just the thing to make.

Moist and flavorful, these muffins pair nicely with bean soups. Try them with Long-Simmering Black Bean Soup (page 38).

Although this excellent traditional Italian bread is yeasted, it does not take as long to make as other yeasted breads, since it requires only one rather brief rising. If you are making a long-simmering soup, this bread will likely fit into the time frame. It’s a natural pairing with Italian-style soups such as Minestrone (page 50), but it’s good with most any tomato-based soup.

For success with this soup, don’t settle for less than luscious, tree-ripened peaches. Avoid peaches that are bought rock-hard, only to ripen to flavorless mush after several days of waiting.

It takes minutes to make this sweet soup. Try serving it after a meal rather than before—it’s a wonderful palate cooler after a spicy meal. Or it can be the main event at lunch on a hot summer day, served with blueberry muffins.

A perfect dessert soup to make in July, when melons are at their sweetest. This makes a refreshing finish to a grilled meal.

This super-quick no-cook soup is delicious enough to serve as a dessert.

Enjoy the convergence of strawberries and midsummer berries in a sweetly spiced broth.

A quick and easy no-cook soup, this is remarkably refreshing on a hot summer day. It’s best eaten on the same day as it is made, since avocado discolors and does not keep well under refrigeration once peeled. This soup makes a great opener for a Southwestern-style meal of burritos, enchiladas, or the like.

This and the following berry soup are the only fruit soups in this chapter that need a bit of cooking. The wine and spices give it a wonderfully complex flavor.

A splendid no-cook soup that will awaken taste buds dulled by summer heat. This soup can be eaten as soon as it is made, but definitely benefits from having time to stand for several hours so that the lively flavors can mingle. This soup is a great first course for a Mexican or Southwestern-style meal.

An appetizing soup designed to impress summer guests—or your own family!

With the help of a food processor, this tasty, no-cook soup will be ready to eat in minutes. Serve with stone-ground tortilla chips or warmed flour tortillas.

This cheerfully colored soup can be the centerpiece of a summer meal, served with crusty bread or sandwiches and a bountiful salad.