Are you swimming in produce? I am! Tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, OH MY! These babies were just harvested and at their peek of late summertime perfection-and made the most amazing gazpacho!
I was teaching a cooking class in a small kitchen, and knew no one was going to want to be crowded and hot over a stove! Right?! Enter the amazing gazpacho, raw and flavorful! I mean really, I must pat myself on the back for this one! It’s AWESOME! And better yet-the veggies are the stars. No oil, no added sugars, and no salt if you don’t want to add it! Seriously amazing.
Aside from the chopping, this soup will come together in all of 15-20 minutes (depending on the chopping). If you don’t care about measuring-you really can skip most of the chopping and place everything in the blender. To demo how to make it, I did chop everything, but a Vitamix can puree it all for you too, especially if you do half of the ingredients at a time. Your call. You’re the chef! Because this is a raw soup, the taste will be as good as your ingredients. Making gazpacho at the peak of summertime produce-ensures you will have a sweet, spicy bowl of perfection. Make it with watery out-of season tomatoes, and well….you know. Not the same!
Gazpacho is jam packed with nutrition while being VERY low in calories (364 calories if you were to eat the entire container!)! Peppers are outstanding sources of Vitamin C (yes, 4x’s that of an orange!). Tomatoes are great sources of Vitamin A, in the form of lycopene, which has been shown to boost heart health and memory. This baby is all fiber, which helps the body to properly regulate blood sugars and fight inflammation in the body. It’s also quite adaptable. Don’t have cucumbers? Use zucchini (seriously, find any way to use that veggie!). Don’t have scallions, add more red onion. No red onion, add scallions. Don’t have basil, use parsley or cilantro. Really-mix it up and use what you have. You need to start however, with amazing ripe, juicy in-season tomatoes! They are what we wait all year for! No store bought tomatoes for us. Why bother?!
**Prep tip-I do recommend peeling and de-seeding the cucs for the gazpacho. Reason being, the seeds can overwhelm the texture of the dish, as can the peels. When not using them for this kind of purpose, leave the skins on! They add important fiber to your diet! To prep, simply peel, then slice in half. Using a spoons or a melon baller, pull back from one end to the other, and the seeds will scoop right out.
Ingredients:
- 6 cups chopped tomatoes (we leave their skins on)-you may want to reserve about 3/4 cup to add some chunk to your soup-optional
- 2 cups chopped, de-seeded and peeled cucumbers (we do this to avoid the toughness of the skin in the raw soup)
- 3/4 cup minced red onion
- 1/2 cup chopped scallions
- 3 cloves of garlic (~1 tbsp)
- 1 cup chopped bell pepper (any color)-1 large
- 1/3 cup + 1 tbsp banana pepper (spicy)-this was 1 of ours
- 1/2 cup packed basil
- 2 tbsp white wine vinegar
- 1 1/2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 1 tbsp fresh lime juice
- 1/2 tsp salt (optional, to taste)
Instructions:
- Place tomatoes into blender 1st, adding in remaining ingredients in order given (this helps release the juice from the tomatoes, and allows all to blend easily. If the blender looks too full, push down on the tomatoes, or blend them a bit before adding in the remaining ingredients.
- Blend on low, and then higher for a few seconds. Depending on how you like it, puree smooth, or rough. I kept ours a little chunky
- Chill or eat right away (I couldn’t wait!), and serve topped with fresh scallions and a big salad! Pictured here, is a massaged kale salad, made using a bunch of kale, 1 avocado, and 1 fresh lemon. Easy peasy!
Nutritional Benefits:
- Packed with antioxidants-great for decreasing inflammation
- Oil and sugar free, and VERY low in calories-amazing for diabetes and heart disease-The entire recipe contains only 364 calories!!
- Good source of fiber-helps to regulate blood sugar
- Great source of potassium, 465 mg, helps regulate blood pressure, nervous and kidney function
- High in Vitamin C, 103%-antioxidant that boosts immune health
- High in Vitamin A, 60%-antioxidant that boosts skin, nail, eye, hair, and bone health, as well as helping to regulate blood pressure.
- 6 cups chopped tomatoes (we leave their skins on)-you may want to reserve about ¾ cup to add some chunk to your soup-optional
- 2 cups chopped, de-seeded and peeled cucumbers (we do this to avoid the toughness of the skin in the raw soup)
- ¾ cup minced red onion
- ½ cup chopped scallions
- 3 cloves of garlic (~1 tbsp)
- 1 cup chopped bell pepper (any color)-1 large
- ⅓ cup + 1 tbsp banana pepper (spicy)-this was 1 of ours
- ½ cup packed basil
- 2 tbsp white wine vinegar
- 1½ tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 1 tbsp fresh lime juice
- ½ tsp salt (optional, to taste)
- Place tomatoes into blender 1st, adding in remaining ingredients in order given (this helps release the juice from the tomatoes, and allows all to blend easily. If the blender looks too full, push down on the tomatoes, or blend them a bit before adding in the remaining ingredients.
- Blend on low, and then higher for a few seconds. Depending on how you like it, puree smooth, or rough. I kept ours a little chunky
- Chill or eat right away (I couldn't wait!), and serve topped with fresh scallions and a big salad! Pictured here, is a massaged kale salad, made using a bunch of kale, 1 avocado, and 1 fresh lemon. Easy peasy!
With all the ingredients listed, in no way will the soup be as red as the soup shown in the picture. You either photo shopped it, added red food colouring or tomato paste. My soup although delicious was tan coloured.
Hi J. No food coloring (no way!!), no photo-shopping (although I do brighten colors slightly when developing)! I used very ripe heirloom tomatoes. If using store bought, out of season tomatoes, then no, it won’t be as red due to lack of natural ripening color. Glad you still enjoyed 🙂