GAZPACHO! The perfect splash for late summer gardens

From our great recipe collection, Recipes of Trailside Cafe and Tea Room, here’s the answer to all that produce! YUM!

2 English cucumbers, halved, seeded, not peeled

2 red bell peppers, cored and seeded

2 green bell pepper, cored and seeded

2 red onions or one if large

2-3 pounds tomatoes, cored and peeled (boiling water method **)

5 cloves minced garlic

6 cups tomato juice

½ cup white wine vinegar

½ cup olive oil

1 tablespoon kosher salt

2 teaspoon black pepper

¼ teaspoon cayenne

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

Juice of one lime

5-6 springs fresh thyme, tied in bundle

❧ Cut all vegetables into 1 inch chunks. Process each vegetable separately in food processor until coarsely chopped. Add to large bowl until all are processed.

❧ Process garlic with vinegar, oil, salt, pepper, cayenne, lime juice and Worcestershire sauce until fully blended. Pour into bowl with vegetables. Add tomato juice and stir all together.

❧ Add tied bundle of fresh thyme, immersing it into the soup, and chill overnight. Remove thyme before serving.  Garnish with diced avocado.

** To easily peel tomatoes (or other soft fruit like peaches), bring a pan of water to boil. Use strainer or slotted spoon to gently immerse tomatoes into the water for about 30 seconds. Remove to ice water. Skins will slip off.

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Serving everything from pita to peach cobbler, Trailside Café and Tea Room became a favorite destination for the few years of its existence. Plate lunches of Pot Roast or Ribs ‘n’ Kraut became overnight hits. Now with a new section on Sandwiches, and a greatly expanded last chapter including many more family recipes sure to be a hit in anyone’s kitchen, Recipes of Trailside Café and Tea Room offers the ‘how-to’ for delicious soups like Split Pea or Potato Leek, hearty salads including Wilted Lettuce, and scrumptious desserts like Lime Pie and the infamous Brown Butter Cookies. Over 200 recipes for easy, down home food.