Dinner Planner – Week of July 18, 2022

My mom, my aunt and my daughters are visiting this week and through the weekend for a family event and we are having a blast!  I am hoping to convince my aunt to join me for my regular Instagram live on Monday at 5:00 pm, but we’ll see. My mom needs no convincing and will be there with bells on and an Aperol spritz lol!  Here’s your dinner planner for the week: Continue reading

Greek Shrimp with Tomatoes and Feta Recipe

I can eat shrimp any which way and my kids love it too, so I always keep it in the freezer for a quick weeknight meal.  I buy wild peeled and deveined frozen shrimp from my local Costco and either defrost it all day in the fridge or take the shrimp I want and defrost it in cold water (usually takes about 15 minutes.) This preparation is healthy, light, easy, and QUICK!!  It is packed with flavor and goes beautifully over rice, cauli rice, potatoes or toasted bread.Continue reading

Lemon-Ricotta Soufflé with Blueberries Recipe

I’m back!  It was a perfect 11 days in NY and we ended on a high note, which is always good.  On the flight home, I seemed to have developed a little sore throat something or other, so I’ll be testing all the time until I figure it out.  In the meantime, let’s have some blueberry soufflé fun!Continue reading

Dinner Planner – Week of July 4, 2022

If you are in the NY area right now, wow!  This weather has been amazing.  We have had a perfect week with my family doing all the things we normally do and keeping life simple.  We are here through July 4th and then we head back to California.  For my monthly online cooking class subscribers, the new July class is getting sent to you this weekend!  It might be one of my favorite classes yet!  If you are not yet a subscriber, try a class out!  I promise you will learn a lot about being a better cook, health and nutrition, and learning how to adapt recipes to suit your style. The recipes are brand new and won’t be published for at least a year, but it’s also so nice to be a part of this special community!

Here’s your dinner planner for the week: Continue reading

Dinner Planner – Week of June 27, 2022

You know what time of year it is!  I am going to Long Island to hang with my family! Follow along on Instagram or Facebook as my sisters, my mom, my aunt and I cook up a storm, have long coffee talks in the morning, walk along the beach, sneak away from the kids on a canoe and play Rummikub until we’re blue in the face!  How do we manage to cook meals for so many people all week?  It’s called a GOOGLE DOC and we all help out, including the kiddos.  I repeat a lot of the same recipes year after year, because why not?! 

Also, I wanted to let you guys know about a great course my favorite organizing gurus, Inspired Everyday Living, are launching, called Declutter and Manifest Laura and Alison are more than just organizers. They really value the home as a reflection of who you are and the life you want to live.  I highly recommend this course!! 

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Green Gazpacho Recipe

I love soup of all kinds and make it at least once a week, if not two or three times a week during the school year.  Soup is very digestible, filling, easy to load up with vegetables, and most soup recipes are flexible, which is my JAM!  During the summer, I don’t make quite as many soups for obvious reasons, but I do enjoy a cold soup once a week. Salmorejo is my absolute favorite and then this “green gazpacho” is a close second.  I have others too that I like – corn chowder, traditional gazpacho, fresh tomato soup, and the zucchini-leek soup from my cookbook, Quicker Than Quick, which I enjoy at room temperature.

Why you’ll love this recipe: 

  • Can be made in advance;
  • It’s a fun twist on traditional tomato-based gazpacho and less acidic;
  • Fast and easy recipe – blend and chill;
  • Super refreshing! 

Green Gazpacho Ingredients

  • Persian cucumbers: make up the base of this cold soup. You could use regular cucumbers, but I would probably peel the skin. 
  • Avocado: adds a nice creaminess to the soup and helps make it filling. 
  • Scallions: are milder than regular onions. If a recipe doesn’t indicate which part of the onion to use, it means you will use the entire thing. 
  • Garlic cloves: are a great antibacterial and antiviral food. I like to keep a jar of peeled garlic (I do it myself) in the fridge to use throughout the week. It’s a game-changer!
  • Apple cider vinegar: is great for gut health and can help with blood sugar stability. Look for a raw and unfiltered. 
  • Lemon juice: Adds a nice punchiness to the soup. I prefer using freshly squeezed juice. 
  • Olive oil: use an unrefined olive oil or best flavor. 

How to Make Green Gazpacho

  1. Add all ingredients to a blender. Blend until completely smooth with a velvety texture. Refrigerate until chilled. Top with your choice of garnishes.  It’s that easy!

Tips for Making Green Gazpacho

  • Double recipe to serve more, but do it in batches since your blender can only accommodate one recipe’s worth of ingredients.
  • Use thin skinned cucumbers such as Persian or hothouse. If you use standard cucumbers, you may want to peel the skin and remove some of the big seeds.
  • Plan ahead and make this far enough in advance that you can chill it throughout before serving.
  • Add toppings!  Pureed soups love a contrast in textures. Add seafood or croutons or chopped herbs, for example.
  • If you can’t eat raw garlic, omit it and swap in a garlic-infused olive oil.  O Olive Oil makes a good one!

Serving Suggestions for Green Gazpacho

  • Cooked crab or shrimp, chives, croutons, or a drizzle of olive oil
  • You can serve this as a first course, or a meal with the addition of protein, or in shot glasses for a fun and refreshing hors d’oeuvres.
  • This will last for 5 days in the fridge without turning brown.  The acid in the soup helps keep the avocado from changing color.

 

If you give this recipe a try, snap a pic and tag @pamelasalzman so I can see your beautiful creations. I also really appreciate readers taking the time to leave a rating and review! Lastly, subscribe for free to my site for the latest recipes and updates.

For more delicious recipes and to learn how to be a better cook, check out my monthly online cooking classes. I have been teaching people for 15 years how to cook healthy food that their families love!  Join me!

 

You can shop the tools I used to make this recipe by clicking on the images below: 

Green Gazpacho

Pamela
4 from 1 vote
Servings 4

Ingredients
  

  • 7 Persian cucumbers including the skin and seeds, cut into chunks
  • 1 avocado ripe but firm, pitted and peeled
  • 4 scallions white and green parts chopped
  • 2 garlic cloves
  • 3 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar
  • 3-4 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice from about 1 juicy lemon
  • ¼ cup water feel free to use more to thin the soup out further
  • ¼ cup unrefined cold-pressed extra-virgin olive oil
  • 2 teaspoons sea salt + more to taste
  • Garnish suggestions: chives croutons, cooked crab or shrimp, drizzle of olive oil

Instructions
 

  • Add all ingredients to a blender. Blend until completely smooth with a velvety texture. Refrigerate until chilled. Top with your choice of garnishes.

Notes

Recipe makes about 4 cups of soup.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

 

 

Dinner Planner – Week of June 20, 2022

A lot of you have started your summers this week with kids now out of school.  I used to love it when my children could be more relaxed and not stressed out about homework and running to activities.  Plus YAY! no more making school lunches at 6:30 in the morning! Buuuut, providing structure so they didn’t get “bored” or sit on devices all day was a challenge.  I have an idea – tell your kids to make dinner once a week.  Tell them to find a recipe and you’ll shop for it and they can make it!  That’s how I learned how to cook – I wanted something different from my mom’s standard weekly meals (which were delicious, but on repeat a lot!), so I found recipes for things I wanted to eat!

Here’s your dinner planner for the week: Continue reading