Cantaloupe Gazpacho

It's thanks to the 'nesting stage' of this pregnancy that I even found this delicious recipe. I have been cleaning out closets and rearranging like a champ lately. And in one of the far back corners of a dark shelf, I found a beautiful wooden recipe box I received at my wedding shower many years ago! And inside - a golden treasure: Hand-written recipes from members of my church! I lived in Boston at that time, so several of them were New England classics like Boston Baked Beans (really!) and Corn Chowder; from some dear Italian friends, Zucchini Squares and Italian Meatballs; and also a recipe for the best apple cake I've tasted from an old (now deceased) neighbor!

The box also contained a recipe with a list of unique gazpacho ingredients with only one line of instruction: Chop, combine, enjoy! I was tempted not to change this line...but I did add a few more instructions below on how I made this delicious way to slurp up end-of-summer veggies. The vegetables are obviously easy to swap in and out with what's in your garden - below is the version I made with what's currently in my garden.

Cantaloupe Gazpacho – {First on the First}

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• Yield: About 4 large servings 1x

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Ingredients

Units USM Scale 1x2x3x

• 1 small cantaloupe (or half a large one) roughly chopped
• 2 cups tomato juice
• ¾ cups pineapple (or orange) juice
• ¼ cup red wine vinegar
• ¼ cup fresh basil - use sweet anise-flavored Thai basil if available
• 1 red bell pepper, roughly chopped
• 2 large tomatoes, roughly chopped
• 1 cucumber, peeled and seeded if seeds are large, roughly chopped
• Salt, pepper and hot pepper sauce to taste

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Instructions

1. Puree all ingredients (reserving a few tablespoons of cantaloupe, cucumbers, tomatoes and a little basil) in a food processor to your texture preference: Barely chopped, very smooth or somewhere in between.
2. Pour into bowls and garnish with reserved cantaloupe, cucumbers, tomatoes and basil.