I have recently come to the conclusion that my life will continue to be hectic, unless I move away or get done with the remodeling Demetrye and I are working so hard on. I am literally trying to squeeze every second out of my day and be PRODUCTIVE, PRODUCTIVE, PRODUCTIVE. If I could, I would have a 30 hour day just to catch up on everything I need done.
Living this way, as you can imagine, makes is harder to be very creative in the kitchen. It is very easy to fall prey to what is convenient, even if it is not the best for us. Having lived on a high raw vegan diet for most of the year, I fell prey to my schedule. With so little time on my hands it is so easy to eat what has been already prepared by my loving Mom. She loves to cook for us. She makes our dishes vegan, since she knows we won’t anything with animal products, but she COOKS. She loves to make soups, and, although they are very delicious, they are cooked. She also likes to make bread—all you have to do is ask her and she will be happy to make your wish come true. If you read my blog for a while you know that I had cut out all wheat products out of my diet last year for a couple of months and then slowly reintroduces some this year. I tried grinding my own flour, however, as good as the Vita-Mix blender is, the dry blade container was not as good as I hoped it to be for at-home flour grinding. I actually ended up returning the try blade container, while still loving the blender itself.
With the summer season almost over I am awakening to the reality that I need to optimize it for all I can and eat as much fresh produce as possible. But… it has to be quick and painless—I have no time to be too creative now. And yet, it has to be delicious.
Today, as I was getting ready for work, I needed a quick solution. While green smoothies are an optimal way to start one’s morning, at times we all need a bit of variety. I flung open the door of our fridge and took a quick inventory of what we have. Our fridge is literally overflowing with tomatoes at this time of the year. I cannot bring myself to dehydrate them, although I know I can, but I feel it such a waste since I like the juicy fragrant taste of tomatoes.
We also have bell peppers… lots of them: green, yellow and red. Bell peppers have always been on my favorites list.
So, a new recipe (well, not so new, but new this season) quickly formed in my head and I gave it a go. It would take no more than 5 minutes to make and I will still be on-tim! So, out came my Vita-Mix and a cold, fresh, raw Tomato Soup was born. I am actually eating it as I am typing this post.
You will have to forgive the picture—I did not have a chance to take a pretty one, like I normally do—I only had my cell phone on me.
Living this way, as you can imagine, makes is harder to be very creative in the kitchen. It is very easy to fall prey to what is convenient, even if it is not the best for us. Having lived on a high raw vegan diet for most of the year, I fell prey to my schedule. With so little time on my hands it is so easy to eat what has been already prepared by my loving Mom. She loves to cook for us. She makes our dishes vegan, since she knows we won’t anything with animal products, but she COOKS. She loves to make soups, and, although they are very delicious, they are cooked. She also likes to make bread—all you have to do is ask her and she will be happy to make your wish come true. If you read my blog for a while you know that I had cut out all wheat products out of my diet last year for a couple of months and then slowly reintroduces some this year. I tried grinding my own flour, however, as good as the Vita-Mix blender is, the dry blade container was not as good as I hoped it to be for at-home flour grinding. I actually ended up returning the try blade container, while still loving the blender itself.
With the summer season almost over I am awakening to the reality that I need to optimize it for all I can and eat as much fresh produce as possible. But… it has to be quick and painless—I have no time to be too creative now. And yet, it has to be delicious.
Today, as I was getting ready for work, I needed a quick solution. While green smoothies are an optimal way to start one’s morning, at times we all need a bit of variety. I flung open the door of our fridge and took a quick inventory of what we have. Our fridge is literally overflowing with tomatoes at this time of the year. I cannot bring myself to dehydrate them, although I know I can, but I feel it such a waste since I like the juicy fragrant taste of tomatoes.
We also have bell peppers… lots of them: green, yellow and red. Bell peppers have always been on my favorites list.
So, a new recipe (well, not so new, but new this season) quickly formed in my head and I gave it a go. It would take no more than 5 minutes to make and I will still be on-tim! So, out came my Vita-Mix and a cold, fresh, raw Tomato Soup was born. I am actually eating it as I am typing this post.
You will have to forgive the picture—I did not have a chance to take a pretty one, like I normally do—I only had my cell phone on me.
Raw Vegan Tomato Soup
Ingredients:1. 1 red bell pepper (or any other that you have, but red will help the soup to remain red) [I only cut off the green stem, but use everything else, seeds included)
2. 1 cucumber (you can peel it, if you want, but I use the entire cucumber, as long as the ends are not bitter)
3. 1 peeled clove of garlic
4. ¼ medium onion
5. Small handful of green onions (optional)
6. 2 large tomatoes, quartered
7. Favorite seasoning to taste (I use Kirkland Organic)
8. Sea or Himalayan salt to taste
Preparation
1. Place first 5 ingredients into Vita-Mix blender and start it
2. Increase from the lowest setting on the dial to the fastest, gradually
3. Run it until all ingredients are blended—they do not have to be pureed, but you can do that if you wish
4. Turn down the speed and add in tomato quarters (I like it slightly chunky, but, again, you can crank it up if you like)
5. Add seasoning and salt
6. Blend until desired consistency has been reached
7. Serve cold, or run your blender until it slightly warms up your soup. If you do, just remember that your veggies will oxidize more.
8. Serve with your favorite crackers or home-made bread (if you are adventurous enough) and, if you can, with a dollop of some sort of raw vegan sour cream.
Enjoy!
