This soup comes with its own Enya soundtrack.

Go ahead. Laugh at me. You always do.

That’s something you and Mr. Hausfrau have in common.

But, I’m sticking to my guns. I tell you, as I lapped my spoon through that velvety-cool, dilled, green stuff, I could hear it: “Slurp away, slurp away, slurp away.”

What do you mean that’s not how it goes?

Whatever. Let’s not get caught up on lyrics and get skinny dipping in this soup.

This soup is a spa day. It’s afternoon picnics. It’s light breezes and whispering blades of grass. The ruffled hem of your skirt flirting around your calves.

(Oops, you forgot to shave. Make it a maxi skirt. It’s flirting around your hairy ankles.)

It’s dinner in the summer when the kitchen is so darned hot already and who needs to add insult to injury with a boiling pot?

It’s cucumber, avocado, dill, olive oil, cashews, and lime. In a blender. Whizz it. Watch it grow, fluffed and creamy, crawling the jar. Pour it into your bowl. Something special and pretty.

(Unless you’re serving it to a boy. Then put it in a beer stein.)

Savor the sweet sloshing sound of it. Garnish. Whatever sounds good. Cucumber. Watercress, if you’re fancier than me.

(Which is highly likely.)

And then – you guessed it – just slurp away.

Cucumber-Avocado Soup

2 1/2 cups chopped cucumber
1 large avocado
1/4 cup raw cashews, soaked 6 hours and drained
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons lime juice
2 teaspoons dried dill
1/2 teaspoon salt

Combine all the ingredients in a high speed blender and blend until smooth. Serve or store in the refrigerator in a tightly covered jar for 24 hours.

He could be all “bestthingieverate” on Monday, but if he sees the same meal or any parts thereof it on Tuesday, he’s all “keep on walkin’ I aint talkin’ to ya.”

I, on the other hand, love leftovers.  But, then again,  this isn’t a popularity contest.

When he and I first moved in together, I continually tried to pawn off last night’s meals, and he continually picked around his plate, so as to not offend (obviously we weren’t married yet) and then proceed to chomp through a bag of pretzels “for dessert.”

One day, I finally got hip and decided to stop re-gifting yesterday’s dinner but disguise it instead. I won’t admit how long it actually took me to tap into this terribly unoriginal thought, but let’s just say that domestic drudgery tends to dull the mind.

The soup I’m sharing with you today is now a staple in the house, but culminated from one of those leftovers scenarios.   I had made Chicken Tikka Masala one evening.  Apparently I was expecting an army, because I had an indecent amount leftover.

Inspiration struck.  I grabbed a fork and fished out the pieces of chicken, leaving behind all that delectably creamy, piquant sauce. I considered swimming in it for just a few seconds but  I didn’t really want all those tomato chunks in my hair.  Instead, the chicken got repurposed into curried chicken salad and the sauce, with the help of a little broth, became a soup.

Sure, I felt like a whacko fishing slippery chicken chunks out of the soup.  With my fingers no less.  (I keep it classy.)  But I hate wasting food more than I hate a little sauce under my nails.

Long story short, Mr. Hausfrau happily slurped it down the next evening.  Only after the dinner dishes were put away did I smugly tell him that HE ate leftovers and HE actually liked it.  Ha ha, victory was mine!

He shrugged and asked me if I knew where the remote control was.

Then he asked me when I would make the soup again.

(Because there were no leftovers that time.)

Tomato Masala Soup

(loosely adapted from Cooks Illustrated)

1 tablespoon ghee

1 medium onion, roughly chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1 tablespoon tomato paste

1 tablespoon garam masala

1 14-ounce can crushed tomatoes

1 14-ounce can tomato sauce

1 tablespoon brown sugar or honey

1 tablespoon dried cilantro

2 cups broth (chicken, vegetable or beef )

1 cup full fat coconut milk, plus more for garnish

Heat the ghee in a large dutch oven over medium heat.  Add the onions and saute until browned, stirring frequently.  Add garlic, ginger, and garam masala.  Stir until the onions are coated and cook until the spices are fragrant.  Add the tomato paste and work it into the onion mixture.  Add the crushed tomato, tomato sauce, brown sugar, cilantro and broth, stirring well to get up the stuck-on bits at the bottom of the pan.  Bring to a boil and reduce heat to low.  Cover and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Remove the pot from the heat and allow the mixture to cool 15 minutes.

Working in batches, puree the soup in a blender until smooth.  Return the pureed mixture to the pot and stir in the coconut milk.  Heat until steaming and serve, garnished with more coconut milk.

Save for some wine, herbs and broth, that’s mostly what this soup is:  mushrooms.

Somehow, this all makes for a concoction that is exquisitely earthy yet delicate at the same time.  You feel right slurping this from a crock or sipping it from a fancy spoon.

All this fawning idolatry is actually pretty ironic.  Once upon a time, I had a fierce aversion to mushrooms.  My mother, for some infinitely unfathomable reason, was a fan of boiling mushrooms.  Who does that?  And after knowing what it smells like the first time, why would you do it again?  Well she did.  There were many an afternoon when I would come home from school, welcomed by a humid wave of boiled mushroom stench all UP in my grill.

Totally killed my appetite for an afternoon snack.

Maybe I should consider some boiled mushrooms all UP in this house kindasorta regularly.  It sure beats the cost of meth.

Anyway,  somewhere in my adult life, I found my mushroom way and began to delight in their hearty squishiness.  When first initiating myself into the mushroom lovers club, I would find clever ways to sneak mushrooms in, like spaghetti sauces and casseroles.  Then I got braver and mushrooms because my pizza topping of choice.

Now, I like my mushrooms, BAM, right there – front and center – like this soup.

While a little bit of shallot wouldn’t hurt this soup, I prefer to keep it out, leaving the mushroom flavor bold and unmarred.  For me, parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme are lyrics from a Simon and Garfunkel song hit on all the perfect flavor points in this soup, so I am endlessly lazy save myself some trouble of fiddling with a bunch of herbs and use poultry seasoning.

Best of all, this soup freezes beautifully.  It’s my go-to option when I don’t feel like cooking it’s soup and sandwich night, so I always have a jar of this on hand.  You should too.

Creamy Mushroom Soup

1 lb. mushrooms, sliced

2 tablespoons butter

1/2 cup sherry

1/4 teaspoon poultry seasoning

3 cups chicken or vegetable stock

1/2 cup coconut milk

salt and pepper, as needed

In a large dutch oven over medium-high heat, heat the butter until it begins to bubble.  Add the mushrooms and saute, stirring frequently, until the mushrooms have released their juices and are a deep golden brown.

Add the sherry and stir, scraping up the browned bits from the bottom of the pan.  Add the poultry seasoning and stock.  Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring occasionally.  Reduce the heat to low and simmer, covered, for 20 minutes.  Remove from heat and allow the soup to cool 10 minutes.

Puree the cooled soup with an immersion blender, keeping the soup slightly chunky.  Stir in the coconut milk and heat through.  Add salt and pepper to taste and serve.