Category: Let’s Eat

Green Tomato Gazpacho Non-Recipe

Gazpacho is perfect when it’s too hot to cook. It just takes a few minutes to whip up a batch in a blender or food processor. While it’s traditionally made with red tomatoes, you can also get creative and use green tomatoes, zucchini, and other vegetables you may have on hand.

When I make gazpacho, I generally throw a bunch of ingredients in the blender and see what I end up with.

Meaning it’s hard to call this a recipe.

However, I wrote down the ingredients and how much of each I used so I could share my non-recipe for green tomato gazpacho.

Green Tomato Gazpacho Ingredients | Horseradish & Honey
Green tomato gazpacho ingredients

Print Recipe
 Green Tomato Gazpacho Non-Recipe
Gazpacho is one of my favorite things to make in the summer. I don't heat up the kitchen and I grow most everything I need to make a quick batch - doesn't get any easier!
Servings
people
Ingredients
  • 1 large green tomato Or 2 medium, 6 or so small...
  • 2 medium cucumbers (optionally peeled) Or one large English cucumber or 3 small cucumbers or 1 overgrown cucumber. Use what you have.
  • 1 small green pepper
  • 1 or 2 pepperoncini peppers Or banana peppers, jalapeno peppers, etc. Again, use what you have.
  • 1/4 - 1/2 onion
  • 1 clove garlic, peeled and smashed
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 2 tablespoons white vinegar
  • 3 tablespoons Greek yogurt, plain yogurt, or sour cream
  • 1 small lemon or lime, juiced
  • 2 handfuls fresh herbs I used parsley, basil, and mint; chives, thyme, and/or rosemary would all be lovely, too.
  • 2 - 4 shakes hot pepper sauce (optional)
  • salt and pepper to taste
Servings
people
Ingredients
  • 1 large green tomato Or 2 medium, 6 or so small...
  • 2 medium cucumbers (optionally peeled) Or one large English cucumber or 3 small cucumbers or 1 overgrown cucumber. Use what you have.
  • 1 small green pepper
  • 1 or 2 pepperoncini peppers Or banana peppers, jalapeno peppers, etc. Again, use what you have.
  • 1/4 - 1/2 onion
  • 1 clove garlic, peeled and smashed
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 2 tablespoons white vinegar
  • 3 tablespoons Greek yogurt, plain yogurt, or sour cream
  • 1 small lemon or lime, juiced
  • 2 handfuls fresh herbs I used parsley, basil, and mint; chives, thyme, and/or rosemary would all be lovely, too.
  • 2 - 4 shakes hot pepper sauce (optional)
  • salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
  1. Roughly chop all the vegetables.
  2. Throw all vegetables, including garlic, in the blender.
  3. Add the rest of the ingredients (olive oil, etc.).
  4. Pulse (if your blender has pulse) a few times to get things started.
  5. Blend until the gazpacho has the consistency you like. Add tomato juice if you want it to be runnier. Add some bread (stale is good) if you want it to be thicker.
  6. Taste it to see if you need to add anything. However, do not brush your teeth right before you taste the gazpacho. Not the best move I ever made. Chill until ready to serve. You could garnish the gazpacho with croutons, thin cucumber slices, herbs, or even a drizzle of olive oil. Or not. Up to you!
  7. Enjoy!

Let's Eat

Refrigerator Pickled Green Tomatoes

I realize it’s early in the season to be worried about what to do with green tomatoes. However, we had a round of storms recently that caused some damage to my tomato plants.

I had to prune a few tomato branches and, instead of pitching the green tomatoes in the compost pile, I decided to make a jar of refrigerator pickled green tomatoes earlier than usual.

Because YUM!

And I LOVE PICKLES (sorry for shouting again but I really, really, really LOVE pickles).

I’ve used this recipe from Amazingribs.com for the past few years and it never lets me down. The only change I make is to use a whole jalapeño pepper, cut in half, instead of the serrano. If you don’t like spicy, leave the pepper out.

It only takes a few minutes to make two pints (or one quart). Honestly, waiting the 1 – 2 weeks for the pickles to be ready is the hardest part of this recipe.

Making Pickled Green Tomatoes | Horseradish & Honey
Ready to make pickled green tomatoes

Voila! Pickles are ready to go in the refrigerator and I’ll be digging in soon.

Pickled Green Tomatoes | Horseradish & Honey
The finished product!

Simple Beet Salad with Mint

We had a busy long weekend hosting friends and family. As I mentioned in my recent And The Beet Goes On post, I was thinking about making a beet salad for dinner this past Saturday.

Well, I did and here’s the recipe I came up with.

Print Recipe
 Simple Beet Salad with Mint
Simple Beet Salad With Mint | Horseradish & Honey
Servings
people
Ingredients
  • 2 - 3 pounds beets This recipe can be easily scaled based on the amount of beets you use. I probably had more like 5 - 6 pounds beets so I doubled the vinegar, olive oil, etc.
  • 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 generous pinch sugar
  • 1 pinch kosher salt
  • 1 generous handful mint, finely chopped Or not. I generally tear up mint instead of chopping it.
Servings
people
Ingredients
  • 2 - 3 pounds beets This recipe can be easily scaled based on the amount of beets you use. I probably had more like 5 - 6 pounds beets so I doubled the vinegar, olive oil, etc.
  • 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 generous pinch sugar
  • 1 pinch kosher salt
  • 1 generous handful mint, finely chopped Or not. I generally tear up mint instead of chopping it.
Simple Beet Salad With Mint | Horseradish & Honey
Instructions
  1. Scrub beets and trim stems to about 1 inch. Cook using your favorite method. I cooked mine in an Instant Pot. Best way ever to cook beets for salad because the skins slip right off!
  2. Remove the skins and cut the beets into bite-sized pieces.
  3. In a bowl, whisk vinegar, oil, salt, and sugar. Add beets and mint to bowl then toss to combine.
  4. Refrigerate, covered, about 1 hour or until cold.
  5. Serve to your guests and enjoy the compliments as they enjoy this lovely beet salad!
Recipe Notes

Learn how to cook beets in an Instant Pot. I used water instead of broth for this salad recipe, FYI.


Sriracha Swiss Chard Stem Pickles

This year, I added Rainbow Swiss chard to the garden because it’s both tasty and pretty. Chard is also part of the beet family and I think it has that same earthiness that makes me love beets.

I’ve just started harvesting the chard and have used it in stir fries and salads so far. Earlier this week, I was trying to figure out what to do with the stems.

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