gazpacho

After what I affectionately refer to as my “European Summer of Self-Indulgence,”  I have been attempting to clean house with a raw food kick.  The raw food movement has always intrigued me.  But every time I crack open a raw food recipe book, I am ultimately scared away by the unfamiliar, expensive, and/or time consuming appliances and processes such as food dehydrators, juicers, Vita-Mix blenders (the ones that will apparently puree rocks) and, the most scary thing of all — sprouting.

If you share my raw food fears, take heart.  It’s quick and easy to whip up some great raw food recipes without a major investment of time or money.  While eating 100% raw is intimidating (and for many of us, impossible), the benefits of raw, living foods can be easily experienced just by incorporating more raw food meals into your diet.  Raw fruits, vegetables, seeds and nuts are a high vibration food — the ultimate whole food, completely unprocessed.  Undamaged by heat, which changes the chemical structure of food, they are rich in vitamins, minerals, oxygen, and enzymes. Eating raw foods is a gift to your digestive system and allows you instantly access the energy of what you eat.  Since I’ve made an effort to incorporate more raw and living foods into my diet, I’ve experienced a very noticeable increase in energy and quite welcome feeling of lightness.  And I still haven’t attempted to sprout a thing — although I must admit my curiosity is starting to get the better of me . . . stay tuned for possible forthcoming adventures in sprouting.

I have enjoyed a bowl of this gazpacho pretty much every day since I first made it about a month ago — no kidding.  It’s great as a meal or refreshing snack.  I like to make it with colorful heirloom tomatoes, but any fresh, juicy tomato will do.  The addition of fresh raw corn was pleasant surprise.  I grew up in Indiana, surrounded by corn fields, and corn was always a rather boring and pedestrian starchy vegetable that I typically avoided. But when cut fresh off the cob, it adds a great crunchy sweetness to the gazpacho — although any crunchy fresh vegetable can provide the same effect.  Gazpacho is often made with garlic, but raw garlic is sometimes a little too much for me to handle, so I don’t use it. Feel free to add it in for an additional flavor boost.

gaz 2

Serves 2.

Ingredients for the soup:

  • about one pound of heirloom tomatoes, coarsely chopped
  • one medium to large cucumber, peeled and coarsely chopped
  • about 1 T of cold expeller pressed extra virgin olive oil (or more, to taste)
  • a fistful of fresh basil leaves
  • about a cup of a coarsely chopped “filler” vegetable  - whatever you have on hand (I like to use carrots or red or orange bell peppers)
  • pinch of cayenne pepper to taste
  • sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

For the garnish:

  • one avocado, chopped
  • fresh corn from one cob
  • optional: shredded veggies such as carrots

To make:

  1. Combine all ingredients in a food processor until well mixed.
  2. Top with garnish and serve