bloody mary gazpacho + avocado cream

Oh hey there!  Have I mentioned it's been hot as blazes here?  Oh, I have?  Well, to beat a dead horse, it's been hot as blazes.  Poor horse.  It probably died in the heat.  I probably shouldn't be talking about dead horses when I'm posting a recipe, but oh well.  If I didn't turn you off, then ready yourself to have the best gazpacho of your LIFE.  So says my husband, and he's no liar.  But then we really love gazpacho, and it seems like most people either love or loathe it.  Am I right?  I've been in the mood for a nice cold, refreshing batch of gazpacho, and as I was taking inventory of my gazpacho makings, it occurred to me that I was grabbing some of the same ingredients I use to make Bloody Marys (which we also LOVE) and I thought, well, why not?  So if you like/love gazpacho and Bloody Marys, then this is your new summer recipe.  And just to tip it over into devine territory, I whipped up a little avocado cream.  Vodka is totally optional, by the way.  Go ahead and grab the following:

gazpacho
2 ripe tomatoes
1/2 sweet onion
2 stalks celery
1/2 bell pepper (I used 3 small sweet peppers)
1 small cucumber
10 large green olives
2 cups tomato juice (I used low-sodium V8)
1/3 cup red wine vinegar
2 - 3 T Worcestershire sauce
1 - 2 T horseradish
juice of 1 lime
fresh cilantro
hot sauce to taste (I used Cholula)
serves 4

avocado cream
1/3 cup sour cream (I used plain greek yogurt)
1/2 ripe avocado
1 + 1/2 ounce goat cheese

First chop up your vegetables.

Puree these with your cilantro.

Work in batches if necessary.  You could use a blender, but I used my small food processor.

I like to leave it a bit on the chunky side, but feel free to puree it into oblivion.  Pour pureed veggies into a large bowl.  I pureed my olives separately, but you can toss them in with the vegetables.

Add the vinegar,

the Worcestershire sauce,

the horseradish,

the hot sauce,

the lime juice,

and the tomato juice.  I used low-sodium since I added the olives. 

Stir well, chill for at least 2 hours, and that's it for the gazpacho!  For the cream, you just need your half an avocado,

and blend that together with your sour cream (or greek yogurt like I always use instead) and the goat cheese.

I managed to miss taking a picture of the avocado cream, and you can't really tell in the finished picture, but it's a really lovely light green color that looks great on the bright red soup.

Enjoy this cool summer staple with a twist!