Nonnie's Gazpacho

This summer, in my quest to actually like tomatoes, I tried gazpacho for the first time. And, I actually liked it. I couldn't believe it. Shocked. Flabbergasted. Of course, homemade croutons don't hurt. So, the really great thing about this recipe is that it was my grandma Nonnie's.

With just a few simple tweaks, I've updated the recipe juuuuust a touch. And, I've made it three times this summer. For someone who rarely repeats a recipe, this sure says a lot. I highly recommend you try this immediately. Beyond tasting like a really yummy fresh salsa, it's so healthy! Seriously, it's all vegetables.

This version even got my dad's approval. We ate it outside and it feels just like summer at Nonnie's house. She had the most beautiful garden - second only to perhaps my mom's, her friend the Master Gardener's and Claude Monet's. Nonnie always loved to eat outside, and most nights now when we do I feel like she's sitting there with us in spirit.

This may be one of the most "Nonnie" recipes to exist. Nonnie loved Spain - she actually taught us to count in Spanish as kids. And used to tell stories of traveling there. So, Spanish heritage - check. Nonnie loved to garden and loved fresh food - most of these ingredients you could grow yourself or buy from a local garden - check and check. Finally, the croutons made with crunchy stale bread, where the crusts are the best part. As kids, we hated the bread crusts and Nonnie used to tell us that the crust would make our hair curly. Now, I don't know how many crusts you have to eat to make this work, but clearly its not many based on how curly my hair is and the number of crusts I ate. Crusts - check.

Next up on my Nonnie list are her famous orange rolls, the potato rolls (the smell of these will always remind me of her house) and lobster.

Ingredients:
3 medium tomatoes
1 large cucumber
1/2 onion
1 large green pepper
2 12-oz cans tomato juice
1/3 c red wine vinegar
1/4 tsp tabasco
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 clove roasted garlic

Directions:

1. Dice 1 tomato, 1/2 cucumber, 1/4 onion and 1/2 green pepper in small, uniform chunks and set aside in a large bowl. Place the other veggies and the roasted garlic into the blender and add as much of the tomato juice that fits. Blend until smooth (depending on the size of the blender you may need to do this in batches).
2. Stir in the remainder of the tomato juice, red wine vinegar, salt and pepper. Drizzle with olive oil before serving. Chill before serving with croutons.