untraditional gazpacho

traditionally, gazpacho is served cold, but i like mine at room temperature. traditionally, it's a refreshing summer dish, but i like it in the winter too as a counter to all the heavy meals. traditionally, bread crumbs are almost always in the recipe, but i omitted them because really, they just seemed unnecessary. no offense to other gazpacho chefs - i'm sure there are plenty of great recipes with breadcrumbs, but this is untraditional gazpacho, after all.

• 2 14oz. cans fire roasted tomatoes (drained)
• 1 jar of roasted red peppers (drained)
• 1/2 can whole kernel corn
• 1/2 cucumber, peeled
• 1/2 green bell pepper
• 1/4 cup cilantro
• 2-3 garlic cloves, minced
• 3 tablespoons onion powder
• 1 ½ tablespoons ground black pepper
• 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• hot sauce to liking

just throw everything in a food processor and pulse until you have a well blended chunky gazpacho. you may need more vinegar or hot sauce to help liquefy everything.

makes several bowls.

lentil paella-jambalaya

although this dish doesn't have any large chunky vegetables, it very much reminded me of the veggie paella i had in spain a few years back. but i also thought it was sort of jambalaya-y with the cajun spices. whatever you want to call it, it was bowl-licking good.

• 1 ½ cups cooked green lentils (approx. ¾ cup dry)
• 1 cup uncooked brown rice
• 1 vegetarian bouillon cube
• 3 cups water
• 1/2 bag frozen pepper strips (or 1 ½ cups fresh)
• 1 tomato, chopped
• 1 jalapeno, chopped
• 1/2 tablespoon onion powder
• 1-2 cloves fresh garlic, minced
  
• 3 tablespoons zatarain's creole seasoning
• 1 tablespoon olive oil

after cooking lentils according to package, heat olive oil on medium in large skillet. in a separate saucepan, dissolve veggie bouillon cube in three cups of water. after oil has heated in the skillet, add the lentils, garlic, and onion powder (or real onions, if you can stand them). sauté the lentils for about 4-5 minutes, then add about 1/4 cup of the veggie broth. toss in in the tomato, jalapeno, and pepper strips (i prefer fresh peppers, but i only had frozen on hand). continue sautéing for about 3-4 minutes more, then add the rice, remainder of broth and zatarain's seasoning.
simmer about 5 minutes, stirring often. once the water is about 80% absorbed, turn off the heat and let sit for 5 minutes more.

voilà - you should have a a nice lentil paella-jambalaya.