Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Soup in the Summer? Hell yeah!

Hot Summer Night Gazpacho

I'm lovin' the summer. The longer days, the joy and challenges of outdoor summer theatre, the opportunities for beer and barbecues make for memorable experiences. I must confess, however, that as much as I love running around barefoot in my cute summer clothes, the hot weather tends to make me a bit lazy in terms of cooking. Who wants to stand over a hot stove when temperatures are getting into the 90s and 100s? But a girl's got to eat, right? Let me introduce you to one of my all-time favorite quick and easy summer meals. This cold summer soup is refreshing and filling without being heavy. Full of veggies and a bit a spicy zip, its perfect no matter how hot it gets!

Ingredients

- 1 32 oz. bottle mixed vegetable juice (such as V-8)
- 1 large cucumber, peeled, seeded, and diced
- 1 small red onion, diced
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1 jalapeƱo pepper, seeded and finely diced
- 4 Roma tomatoes, seeded and diced
- 1 tsp. hot sauce
- 1-2 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
- juice from 1 lemon
- 1 Tbsp. red wine vinegar
- 3Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tsp. of sugar
- salt and pepper to taste
- avocado slices

Placed prepped vegetables in a large Tupperware container. Season with sugar, lemon juice, hot sauce, Worcestershire sauce, olive oil, and vinegar. Stir to combine and pour in vegetable juice. Stir to combine all ingredients. Season with salt and pepper and extra hot sauce to taste. Refrigerate until cold. Serve with avocado slices. Yum! It gets better after a day in the fridge when the ingredients have time to meld together. So good. So fast!