it's.... recipe Monday!!

(not that this implies a consistent commitment to posting a new recipe every single Monday... I just liked the sound of that title; plus, that's just way too much commitment for me right now)

*ahem*

last week officially kicked my ass in more ways than one, so I made the decision to spend the majority of this weekend on my couch. friday night? quick work happy hour then home for kraft macaroni & cheese and sex and the city reruns on DVD. saturday? sleep for most of the day, then take advantage of the one non-rainy window to go for a long run outdoors -- only to get rained on, lose my keys, kill my muscles by repeating my run while power-walking so that I could look for my keys and have zero success... so I returned to the couch to watch Grease and a What Not to Wear marathon on TLC. oh, and I went out and got hammered. sunday? sleep for most of the day, get sucked into making of the band 4 marathon on MTV (p. diddy is just incredibly unattractive), go for long power walk around neighborhood... and finally go to grocery store.

I decided I wanted to try to make something I'd never attempted before. after scouring a few cookbooks for inspiration, I decided to make some cool, summery gazpacho. it's super easy! here's what I did:

gather your ingredients:
a few ripe tomatoes, chopped
one red bell pepper, chopped
1/2 onion (I think either sweet onion or purple onion would probably be best), chopped
1/2 cucumber (I used the long, skinny kind that comes wrapped in plastic), chopped
1-2 cloves garlic
cilantro
s&p
lemon juice
some goat cheese for garnish
some EVOO for garnish (sigh... Rachael Ray)

I didn't use exact measurements but I pretty much two parts tomato to one part onion and one part cucumber.

now, easy-peasy directions:
grab a blender. put tomatoes, red bell pepper, cucumber and onion in blender and pulse until pureed (I went in batches -- it won't work that well if you jam it all in there at once). pour into container, season with s&p and lemon juice. pour into your serving bowl, drizzle with EVOO, add some chopped cilantro and a dollop of goat cheese.

ta-da!!! gazpacho is ready.

I saw a few variations on this recipe... one called for green bell pepper instead of red... one called for parsley/mint instead of cilantro (I tend to prefer cilantro though)... another called for a dash of hot sauce (which I think would bring out the flavors quite nicely... I think it's just a matter of trying the different twists and seeing what works for you.