Pandemic Cooking Or Not Cooking When Temperatures Are Triple Digit

It's still summer, but the past week has been unseasonably warm, dry, hazy and quiet (despite last night's thunder and lightning and fat rain drops). Luckily our garden produced this weekend's gazpacho. It all started with this Instagram posting I saw for the easiest recipe.

Luckily, I had all the ingredients on hand except for the pepper. And so on an early Saturday morning before the brutal heat started, I walked Sadie at her favorite park and picked Anaheim peppers from our vegetable patch.

How awesome and grateful I am that we can grow what we eat.

I remembered last minute to also include garlic, which like the onion, the hubs also grew.

Next time I'll use only one small clove of garlic. I removed the seeds from the cucumber but left the skin on to have a pop of dark green.

The heirloom tomatoes are so sweet and delicious this time of year.

I always have sea salt, sherry vinegar and extra virgin olive oil on hand.

Next time, I'll just pulse the tomatoes. And leave the cucumber in small chunks rather than let it get pulpy.

The soup was and is delicious (Monday's lunch at work), and I'm adding a can of vegetable juice to inject more red color into the soup. I bet this gazpacho would also make a delicious Bloody Mary with a celery stick, squirts of lemon, a teaspoon of horseradish and vodka, of course.