So it's 101 degrees as I write this in Berkeley, which is pretty INSANE. In the five years I've lived in the SF Bay Area, I have never felt sooooo hot. It reminds me of Florida, which I appreciate but in Florida you usually have a pool or refreshing ocean to jump into. It would be a trek to go to Ocean Beach and to be honest, it just isn't an appealing beach to me. Try and change my mind?

But anyways, it's HOT so when I was thinking of about what I wanted for lunch all I could think about was Gazpacho, a cold tomato soup. All the traditional style recipes use bread and they recommended using day old country bread which... come on... who has that?

So I kept looking and found this recipe posted in the NY Times of all places. I made sure I had all the main ingredients and just kinda went for it! If you read my Golden Beet Hummus recipe post, you'll remember that I'm new to cooking and am trying to cook intuitively so I'm not so attached to one certain recipe or one certain way of doing something.

The Gazpacho turned out light, refreshing, and tasty and I highly recommend it for an appetizer or lunch on a hot day. I ate it with a bunch of seeded crackers and felt perfectly satisfied, though you would need something more for a dinner meal. I plan on pairing it with a cold green lentil salad later tonight and will post that recipe later this weekend.

Until then.. eat well and be well, my friends!

Gazpacho Recipe

Remember, this is a guideline and it's purposefully vague. Practice your intuition, be playful, and do lots of taste tests!

Here's What You'll Need:

A Blender or Food Processor and I have this one. If you don't have a food processor and you can afford it, it's a life changer. I use it regularly to make hummus and all sorts of dressings, soups, and nut butters and bars. It's a must have.

Cuisinart DLC-2009CHBMY Prep 9 9-Cup Food Processor, Brushed Stainless

Cuisinart

Buy on Amazon

Ingredients:

Lots of tomatoes, a few cloves of garlic, sherry vinegar (or some vinegar), a bit of olive oil, paprika and salt for the soup.

Finely chopped onion, tomatoes, and cucumbers, basil, and hemp seeds for garnish.

All you need to do is put the tomatoes, two slices of onion, a few garlic cloves, a couple tablespoons of vinegar, a couple tablespoons of olive oil, paprika and salt in food processor until mixed.

Then, transfer soup to a bowl and chill in the refrigerator until nice and cold.

While you are doing that, mix the chopped onion (about a half a cup), cucumber (another half cup), and tomatoes in a bowl- add salt and pepper to taste.

Voila!

When you are ready to eat and serve, spoon the cold soup in a bowl and top with the garnish: onion, tomatoes, cucumber, basil and hemp seeds.