soup

It was on a visit to Iceland last year that I first discovered Skyr, a delicious and creamy thick yogurt. Wikipedia says the following about Skyr:

Skyr is an Icelandic cultured dairy product, similar to strained yogurt. Technically it is a very soft cheese.

Since I have forever been a fan of more natural European yogurt over the typical overly sweetened American varieties of my youth, I spent our days in Iceland excitedly eating Skyr a few times a day. Hey, it’s the little things! 😉

Fast forward a year after our trip when I am scanning the yogurt selection at Whole Foods and see the clean, sophisticated little cups of Siggi’s yogurt in flavors completely unique to your usual yogurt scene.

Since then, I have tried Siggi’s vanilla, plain, and orange & ginger yogurts, the orange & ginger being my favorite because of its tangy citrus flavor and a hint of gingery spice. Somehow, Siggi’s makes something that is incredibly rich and filling completely fat free. . .with 16-17 grams of protein per container. Siggi’s is all natural and made from milk that comes from grass fed, hormone free cows.

Being a fan of the yogurt, I was more than a little excited when Judith from Healthworks invited me to meet Siggi himself! A yogurt celebrity at my gym? I was there!

Healthworks and Siggi’s teamed up to give out some free samples and coupons, and I of course took them up on their offer! I will be having a blueberry Siggi’s for breakfast this morning.

The best part, of course, was meeting Siggi himself. I was surprised at how young he is! I am not sure why, but I pictured him to be much older.

It turns out that he and Judith were born on the exact same day, same year and everything!

I enjoyed the opportunity to chat with Siggi about Iceland, yogurt, eating habits of Americans and my blog. He was so nice and kindly gave me some coupons for free yogurt which I will be sharing with you at the end of this post. But first a summery soup recipe using Siggi’s yogurt:

With yogurt on the brain and a bunch of carrots past their salad prime, I decided to come up with a cold soup recipe utilizing plain yogurt as the base. Siggi’s would work great, as would any thick, plain yogurt.

Chilled Spicy Carrot Soup Ingredients:

8 large carrots, chopped into small pieces

1/4 cup red onion, chopped into small pieces

4 cloves garlic

3 TBSP Olive Oil

2 cups yogurt

1 cup organic vegetable stock

1 TSP each, cinnamon, cumin, black pepper, and chili powder

sea salt to taste

Coat the carrots, whole garlic cloves, and onion in olive oil and toss with cinnamon, cumin, chili powder, and pepper. Roast at 400 degrees until the carrots are soft. If the garlic looks too brown, remove it early and set aside. Burnt garlic is the worst!

Once the veggies are cooked, set them aside to cool for about 20 minutes, then toss in the food processor and puree until completely smooth. Allow to cool for another 20 minutes; if you are in a rush pop the bowl in the freezer for a few minutes. Once it is fully cool, stir in the yogurt until the mix is completely combined. At this point, give it a taste. It will be thick, but you may like it just the way it is. If you prefer to thin it a bit, stream in vegetable stock and stir until the soup has reached the consistency you desire.

I loved how creamy and cold this soup was, and the spices I used complimented the sweet carrots well. I will definitely be making this again, maybe with butternut squash in the fall.

Because of the thickness of the yogurt and sheer volume of carrots, this was a VERY filling soup. Next time I would serve a very small portion as an appetizer or eat this as a light meal on its own.

Now time for a little giveaway. Three lucky Travel, Eat, Love readers will win 2 coupons each for 2 free Siggi’s yogurts.

All you have to do is visit Siggi’s website, leave a comment on this post telling me which flavor/s you would buy if you won, and link back to this giveaway if you have a blog. If you don’t have a blog, link back on Facebook or Twitter.

Thanks Judith and Healthworks for yet another really cool opportunity!