I recently tried this cilantro lime gazpacho (cold soup), which turned out great! It's an excellent way to use fresh vegetables from the garden. (My tomatoes aren't quite ready yet, but they will be soon!)

I found the recipe in a coupon booklet from County Market, which is the local grocery store in my small town. You can find the recipe, as well as many other healthy recipe ideas, in the Live Well section of County Market's website. 

What I Like About This Recipe:

• So SIMPLE! You take a bunch of fresh, nutritious ingredients and just blend them until you reach the consistency you like. 

• Excellent fresh flavor. It has a little kick to it, but it's not too spicy. My 8 year-old loved it. (My 6 year-old was more hesitant, but that's not unusual.) 

• It’s a refreshing option during the warm weather months. 

Ingredients I Used:

Note: I did a quick "rough chop" of most of the ingredients, to help them fit in the blender better. The blender will do most of the work for you. 

• 6 fresh tomatoes, chopped, not peeled (I used an "on the vine" variety because they were ripe and on sale. The original recipe calls for Roma or plum tomatoes.)

• 2 cloves garlic, peeled (I minced the garlic beforehand to ensure it would be evenly dispersed.)

• 1 small sweet onion, chopped (I used a small Vidalia onion.)

• About 3/4 of an English cucumber, chopped, not peeled

• 1 red bell pepper, cored and chopped

• Zest of 1 lime

• Fresh-squeezed juice from 2 limes (about 1/4 cup)

• 1 tablespoon vinegar (The recipe calls for red wine vinegar, but I didn't have this on hand, so I used white vinegar, which worked well.)

• 1 tablespoon hot sauce (I used Frank's Hot Sauce.)

• Fresh cilantro leaves (The recipe calls for 1/4 cup. I love cilantro and just threw a bunch in.)

• Zest of 1 lime

• 1 ½ teaspoons salt (optional)

• ¼ teaspoon fresh-ground black pepper

Steps:

1. Combine all ingredients in a large blender. 

2. Pulse until you've reached the consistency you like.

3. Chill in the refrigerator before serving. (I couldn't wait and had a bowl right out of the blender!)

4. Enjoy!

How about you?

Do you like gazpacho? What is your favorite way to prepare it?

If you try this recipe, let me know! Please leave a comment, and don’t forget to tag me on Instagram!

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Note: This recipe was part of a New Year’s resolution to try one new recipe a week for a year, focusing on whole-food plant-based (WFPB) recipes. This post was originally published on July 30, 2018.