Gazpacho & Veggie Pico de Gallo

Since the last time I blogged, I've had some big changes in my life! I got a new job. Woohoo employment! I also moved BACK to Orlando and in with my good friend Brett aka BTW.

Brett & I!

We are having a blast living together, but we are pretty bad influences on each other, and usually end up eating a lot of junk (for example, yesterday we had pizza & breadsticks from Papa John's). So for the next few weeks, we decided to do a semi-detox and eat veggies and lots of raw foods. Tonight, we made Gazpacho in BTW's fancy blender, the Vitamix. It'll basically blend ANYTHING. It came with a cookbook, so we just used the recipe and added a few of our own twists.

Gazpacho
3 cups tomato juice
2 tomatoes
1 cucumber, peeled
1 green pepper, seeded
1 jalapeno (optional)
1 small onion
3-4 garlic cloves (or use to your taste if you like garlic!)
1/4 cup olive oil
1/3 cup red wine vinegar
salt & pepper to taste
hot sauce to taste

Basically, roughly chop all the veggies, put them all in the blender (or you can also use a food processor), blend until smooth and enjoy.

This took up our ENTIRE Vitamix, so you may have to do it in two batches if you have a smaller blender or food processor.

See how full it was?!

 You can blend it to as smooth or chunky as you'd like. And you can also let it set in the fridge for a few hours or overnight to let the flavors meld together. We also heated up some naan (Indian flatbread) in the oven to use to dip, but it's also delicious with crusty french bread. As a garnish, I whipped up a quick veggie pico de gallo.

Veggie Pico de Gallo
1 tomato, chopped
1 large garlic clove, minced
1 jalapeno, seeded &minced
1/3 cucumber, seeded & chopped
1/4 green pepper, seeded & chopped
1/4 onion, chopped
handful of cilantro
olive oil
lime juice
red wine vinegar
salt to taste

Basically, chop everything up, just the way you like it, sprinkle in some olive oil, red wine vinegar and lime juice and mix. Add a little salt to taste. You could also add in some mango, apple or avocado, which would both be delicious. Just use your imagination, it's hard to go wrong with fresh ingredients.

Put this on top of your gazpacho to add a little crunch. We also added a little more hot sauce to taste to our own bowls to spice it up.

This is especially good in summer when the tomatoes are super fresh. Hope you enjoy!