Summer Soup

Well, I thought I'd continue my trend of posting seasonally inappropriate recipes!

Fall and winter are the perfect time for a hot bowl of soup. But what kind of soup can you enjoy in the summer when it is sweltering outside? Gazpacho, of course!

I don't mind winter...until about mid-January...and then I long for it to be over. This year hasn't been quite so bad because I have a sweet 2 year old son who is so much fun to play with in the snow. My son loves to eat the snow and you know what? I do too. That's one of the best things about snow. Not to mention the fact that my son loves snow ice cream too (and so do I!).

What? You've never tried snow ice cream? Okay, we'll take a quick detour...

Snow ice cream is so easy to make...as long as you have the right supplies! You just have to have a nice, fresh, pollution-free snowfall! There's no specific recipe either, because it's all about the right consistency and flavoring the ice cream to your taste. But here's the gist of it:



Snow Ice Cream

Ingredients:

Freshly fallen snow
Milk, to taste
Sugar, to taste
Flavoring of choice, to taste (vanilla extract, almond extract, other favorite extract flavoring, Italian Soda Syrup flavor of choice, etc.)

Directions:

Mix snow, milk, sugar, and desired flavoring together until you reach your desired consistency and taste. Use less snow if you want more of a shake-like consistency. Use more snow if you want a thicker ice cream. It's as easy as that!

Source: My grandma used to make this for my Mom and her sisters when they were kids. Then, my mom made it for us when we were kids.

Notes: You know, snow ice cream is one of the best things about winter. It brings back so many childhood memories for me. It just tastes soooooo good. The basic way to make it is to use vanilla extract for a basic vanilla snow ice cream. But I've used Italian soda syrup and made hazelnut and white chocolate snow ice cream so far this winter and those were super tasty too. So, get creative and have fun. If you're craving snow ice cream during the summer, you can satisfy your craving if you own an ice shaver or ice shaving machine. You can also make a snow slushy/snow cone and skip the milk altogether. You can mix the snow with Italian soda syrup, snow cone syrup, or soda pop until you find a consistency you like. I tried this with some sugar-free raspberry Italian soda syrup and it was really yummy--and a lot lighter on the calories too!

Okay...now on to the real purpose of this blog post. Gazpacho. Now, who wants cold soup in the winter time? Yuck! No one! But who wants a cold, refreshing, spicy, savory soup with a bit of crunch in the summer time? Most everyone (except my husband. He does NOT like gazpacho at any time).

I made the first gazpacho in the spring and summer, but failed to post it because I was waiting to get another gazpacho recipe from my mom...only to find out that I had the recipe all along! D'oh! It's kind of like The Wizard of Oz. The scarecrow, tin man, and cowardly lion travel to Oz to ask the Wizard for a brain, a heart, and courage...but they really had those things all along! I mean, come on, the scarecrow is always coming up with the game plan and the tin man cries at the drop of a hat. But the cowardly lion...well, he was pretty much a coward to begin with. So, I guess the trip to Oz was all for his sake!

Anyway, I hope you like these two gazpacho recipes.



Gazpacho

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups tomato or vegetable juice (such as V8)
1 cup peeled, seeded, finely chopped fresh tomatoes
1/2 cup finely chopped celery
1/2 cup finely chopped cucumber
1/2 cup finely chopped green bell pepper
1/2 cup finely chopped green onion
3 tablespoons white wine vinegar
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 large clove garlic, minced
2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

Combine the juice, tomatoes, celery, cucumber, bell pepper, onion, vinegar, oil, garlic, parsley, salt, Worcestershire sauce, and black pepper in a large glass or stainless steel bowl. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

Serve cold.

Serves 5.

Nutrition information: 117 calories, 2 g protein, 13 g carbohydrates, 6 g fat, 1 g saturated fats, 690 mg sodium, 0 mg cholesterol, 4 g fiber.

Source: South Beach Diet cookbook (this is an older version...I'll have to get the publication year later).

Notes: This is time-consuming because it requires a lot of chopping, but it is tasty! I usually double it.


Rico Mexican Market's Shrimp Gazpacho

Ingredients:

32 oz. Clamato Juice
10 oz. cocktail shrimp
1/4 cup jicama, diced
1/4 cup avocado, diced
1/4 cup celery, diced
2 Tbsp. green onion tops, sliced
1 Tbsp. yellow onion, diced
2 Tbsp. cilantro, chopped
1 Tbsp. garlic, minced
1 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
Garnish: Hot sauce, lime juice, and salt to taste

Directions:

Combine all ingredients. Chill and garnish as desired.

Source: This is one of my Mom's recipes. Judging from the title, I'm guessing it originally came from a place called Rico Mexican Market!

Notes: If you like a chunkier gazpacho, feel free to increase the amounts of chopped vegetables. Also, I accidentally bought tomato juice instead of clamato juice (they were right next to each other in the grocery store and I somehow reached for the wrong one. I didn't notice my mistake until I got home). It works just as well with the tomato juice as the clamato. So, if you hate clamato juice, just use tomato juice.