gazpacho...slurp your veggies!

It has been really warm here lately, which evokes hot summer days and cold soup.  My fridge is still brimming with bell peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, etc., an invitation to make gazpacho if I ever saw one.  I had my first taste of this cold soup over 20 years ago while working at Bagatelle, a quaint little French restaurant and bakery.  Back then, I was still leery of raw veggies, so imagine the trepidation I felt at having any - much less a whole bowl - of this soup (vichyssoisse, I had no problems with since it is cooked).  I overcame my fear, gulping down a spoonful of this delicious soup and have never looked back.

It wasn't until I was living by myself that I attempted to make my own version of gazpacho.  There are many different variations of gazpacho out there, this just happens to be the way I enjoy eating mine.  Each yummy spoonful of this healthy soup makes you feel so good.  I make sure all my ingredients are cold before I begin and  basically add enough vegetables to submerge them in cold tomato juice, no measurements required.  They are really good with the optional ingredients, my favorite is the diced hard boiled eggs.  It adds a yummy creaminess to the soup.

Um, can you tell I love me some avocado?  LOL

Gazpacho

Serves:  4

½ small red onion, diced

2-3 cloves garlic, minced

1 green or red bell pepper, diced

1 regular or English cucumber, chopped

1 pint grape tomatoes or 3 Roma tomatoes, chopped

2 (11.5 oz) cans Campbell’s Tomato Juice

2 tsp balsamic or red wine vinegar

1-2 tbsp olive oil

½ tsp freshly ground black pepper

1/2 tsp salt, or to taste

Optional ingredients:

avocado, chopped

hard boiled eggs, diced

cooked shrimp

1.  Remove seeds and stems on green pepper.  Remove ribs and skin on regular cucumber, but leave both intact if using English cucumber.  Dice, mince, and chop all vegetables and add to a large bowl.

2.  Add tomato juice, vinegar, olive oil, black pepper, and salt to vegetables.  Stir to combine. 

3.  Refrigerate for about 2 hours before serving.  Top with avocado, hard boiled eggs, and/or shrimp prior to serving.  

Notes:
Refrigerate all your ingredients prior to beginning to quicken the cooling time later on.  If you prefer your veggies smaller, you can add everything to a blender bowl and blend until you have smaller chunks of veggies.  I prefer my veggies in big pieces because I like to chomp on big chunks of crispy veggies.  Reminds me of chewing my cud. LOL!