Garden bounty feeling a wee bit overwhelming? This is a great way to use some of those Tomatoes and Cucumbers!
Brain fried in your 100 degree weather and don't feel like sorting out dinner for the Fam? Whip up some of our Chilled Soup ahead of time...you'll LOVE it!
We love the crusty croutons we make to go on top of the soup. You'll want to make these early in the morning, so your kitchen can cool off before the temps outside rise!
Crusty Herb Croutons
Pick up a loaf of day old crusty bread (I think any bread with seeds/nuts is best). Tear into small chunks and pop it into a big mixing bowl. Melt a quarter stick of butter and 3 tbs of Olive Oil; add a handful of chopped Sage, Oregeno and Basil..or any combination (or use dried) and a bit of Sea Salt and Cracked Pepper. Drizzle all of this over your torn bread and stir until coated. Spread out on a dry cookie sheet and put in a low oven for about 20 to 30 minutes. I usually bump up the oven temp to 325 for about another 9 minutes til brown. After they cool, I keep them loosely covered in a bowl on the counter.
Here's what you want to go collect from your garden or pick up at your local Farm Stand or Farmer's Market. Not sure where your nearest Farm is to visit? Go to...Pick Your Own
Farmer's Market List:
One large sweet Onion
One head of Garlic
Three to Four large Tomatoes
Two nice size Cucumbers
One bunch each of fresh Basil, Mint and Cilantro
Two to three Avocados
4 to 6 ears of Fresh Corn on the cob
Additional Ingredients:
One LARGE jug of Vegetable Juice (Our fav, is Trader Joe's Low Sodium Garden Patch!)
One box of low sodium veggie stock (or make your own...about 4 cups)
One Lime
3 Cups of Cold Water
1/4 to 1/3 Cup of Frank's Red Hot Sauce *or to taste
One fourth to One Half Teaspoon of Chipotle Powder *or to taste
Sea Salt
Fresh Cracked Pepper
Once you have all of the above, grab your kitchen helper, tie on your aprons and get to choppin', Girl!
Remember, this recipe will feed an Army! So, grab the biggest darn Farm bowl, glass container, juice pitcher, enamel canner you have! (I use the HUGE Vintage glass storage container I bought at a Garage Sale for a $1, shown in the pic above).
Dump the Garden Patch Juice, Stock, Water, Hot Sauce...in your container;
Peel and seed the Cucumbers, chop and dice the Tomato (you can seed these too if you want), shuck and cut off the corn, dice Onion, skin and dice your Avocado, zest the lime, peel and smash 4 to 5 cloves of Garlic, Fine chop all of the herbs...chuck all of this into your container or pot.
Stir it up and start seasoning with your Sea Salt, Cracked Pepper and Chipotle powder to taste.
Keep chilled in Fridge, while you certainly can eat this immediately, it is actually better 24 to 48 hours later!
This is also the BEST soup to make for gatherings with friends and family. It's also a good travel/picnic food, too! Pour it into a large lidded storage jar or even a lidded juice pitcher and keep it in an ice filled chest.
-or- fill individual vintage jelly or canning jars, pop the lids on and keep 'em chilled
Enjoy!!!
Happy Thursday!