Greetings from Chipiona, a small fishing village in the southern region of Andalucia, Spain! It´s been scorching hot here and what better way to refresh and replenish than drinking a cold, nutritious glass of gazpacho, drink my husband considers to be the ounce-for-ounce, healthiest food known to man or woman!

My husband was born and raised here, and contends that ounce-for-ounce, gazpacho is the healthiest food there is. (I argue that it is liver, but based on the popularity of my last liver recipe, I think I´ll stick to gazpacho for now.) In any case, gazpacho is a refreshing drink, served cold and chock full of antioxidants and other potent phytonutrients.

I am very tempted to add more herbs and spices to it.  However, in respecting tradition I will stick to the original Andalusian recipe.  Once I return home, I will experiment and add a bit of cumin or maybe even oregano.  Maybe serve it as a cold soup with some diced raw veggies or shrimp.

As far as our vacation, things have been really mellow. We wake up, eat a home-cooked “desayuno” (breakfast) at home. Afterwards, we hang out at the beach and then come back home for lunch.  There´s a saying along the lines of “When in Spain, do as the Spaniards” so lunch is followed by a mandatory siesta. Finally,  we go out for a little walk right at sunset, which happens around 10pm!  Dinner here is eaten around 11pm, so we are eating much later than we are accustomed to, but enjoying every bit of it. I am loving all the help I am getting with the girls from my mother-in-law. I could really get used to this lifestyle!

Ingredients:

2 lbs of ripe tomatoes
1 red bell pepper (seeded)
1 garlic clove
1/8 of an onion
1 medium cucumber
salt to taste
apple cider vinegar or red wine vinegar to taste ( I use about 1/4 cup)
3 tbsp of olive oil

Preparation:

• Using a high-power blender, blend (Like a vitamix) all ingredients, except the olive oil, until smooth. If you are using a regular blender you may have to cut the veggies in smaller pieces.
• Add the olive oil and quickly mix it in. If you blend the oil for too long the gazpacho is going to become thicker and “pinkish”

For a thinner consistency you may add water