It's a Tomato & Cucumber kind of day!

 One of the upsides of running a non-profit for kids is that the kids get served meals from the local food bank! Let's be honest though, this isn't an upside. There are too many times I serve something that even I can't recognize.  When the kids ask me what it is, I have to tell them,
"It's a Sloppy Joe??"  Yesterday, however, some local farmers donated a bunch of fresh vegetables to the food bank, which means we got to serve it to the kids, which means I got to take home the left overs!  Which means I have a TON of fresh tomatoes and cucumbers!

I actually have two pans of the cucumbers... fresh pickles anyone?

So now my conundrum is what exactly to do with all these?! 

First, I made some fresh Pico de Gallo, which is one of the recipes in a cookbook I just read cover to cover like a novel.  In case you're in need of a good read, check out her website www.pioneerwoman.com.  She's become my new hero.  Here's the recipe...

Pico de Gallo

Pioneer Woman's Pico de Gallo

Ingredients

1 Red Onion, chopped

Tomatoes (to equal the amount of chopped onion)

Cilantro, a whole bunch - about 1 1/2 cups

1 Jalapeno, chopped

Juice from 1/2 a lime

Salt to taste

Instructions

Chop the red onion as finely as you're comfortable eating raw, and dump into a big bowl.  Chop an equal amount of tomatoes, and dump into the bowl.  Roughly chop a bunch of cilantro.  ...not a bunch as in a ton, a bunch as in one of the bundles the grocery store packages.  Dump that into the bowl as well.  Chop the jalapeno finely, but first get rid of the ribs and seeds.  If you like it really really hot, chop two jalapenos.  Squeeze the juice from half a lime into the bowl with all the other ingredients and stir it all together.  Add salt to taste.  Pioneer Woman suggested tasting with a tortilla chip to get the correct amount of salt... so I did. Pioneer Woman did not fail me! It's delicious!

Problem was, though, that I still had two pans of cucumbers left and two thirds of a pan of tomatoes.  Gazpacho it is!

Gazpacho

Disclaimer: I pretty much made this one up, with the help of a ton of different foodnetwork.com recipes to help me get a basis.  I'd never made gazpacho before this...

Ingredients

2 cups Cucumber (or one whole cucumber)

2 cups Tomatoes (or two whole tomatoes, I don't know what kind....)

1 Sweet Red Pepper

1/2 Red Onion

2 cloves garlic

3 Cups V8 Juice

Juice from 1/2 a lime

1/4 cup Vinegar (any kind, I used apple cider vinegar)

1/4 cup Olive Oil

2 Tbl Kosher Salt and as much cracked black pepper as you like

Instructions

Slice the cucumber and put it in a food processor.  I used my Magic Bullet, since I don't have a food processor.  Process it until it's chopped finely and looks soupy.  Like this....

Pour the cucumbers into a large bowl.  Quarter the tomatoes and process them to the same consistency and pour them into the same bowl.  Repeat the process with the red onion and red pepper.  Press the garlic, or mince on a microplane and add it to the soup mixture.  Pour the V8, vinegar, and olive oil into the bowl, and stir everything together.  Add the salt and pepper to taste.  According to all the Food Network recipes, it's best to let it refrigerate for 24 hours before serving, to let all the flavors meld.  But I had to taste anyways since I've never made or eaten gazpacho before.  Bad News: I hated it.  So I did the  best thing my father taught me... Doctor the Shit out of it.  I actually put it on the stove and brought it to a slow boil, added some sugar (about 2 tea), Penzey's Greek seasoning, and thyme.  WAY better.  I'll cool it down and eat it cold, like a gazpacho, but now it's got much more of a tomato soup flavor as opposed to rabbit food flavored.

Let me know if you make either one!  And if you have any ideas for an extreme over-abundance of cucumbers!