- 1 cup shredded chicken (rotisserie or leftover cooked chicken breasts) (optional)
- 1 large lime, cut into wedges
Steps
## 10-Minute Green Gazpacho ##
### Ingredients: ###
- 1 medium cucumber, chopped
- 2 medium green bell peppers, chopped
- 3 medium tomatoes, chopped
- 1 small onion, chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 3/4 cup of ice cubes
- 1 cup (or a little more if needed) cold almond milk
- 1 tbsp of rice vinegar (or any vinegar such as apple cider)
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- Salt, to taste
- Optional but recommended for serving: Fresh herbs (such as basil and mint), toasted tortilla strips, avocado dices, red onion dices, extra cold almond milk
### Recipe Steps: ###
**1. Preparation:** Wash and chop all the vegetables: cucumber, green bell peppers, tomatoes, and onion. Mince the garlic cloves. Get all ingredients and kitchen appliances/utensils ready on the kitchen counter for quick blending. This recipe relies on speedy appliance-assisted blending rather than chopping ingredients finely with knives.
**2. Easy Blender Work:** Combine almost all ingredients in a sturdy, high-powered blender: chopped veggies, garlic, almond milk, oil, ice cubes, rice vinegar, generous pepper grounds, and half (1/2) amount of the needed salt. Pulse until roughly chunky blended to avoid an extra smooth green soup-like consistency (we want some texture here.) Then let blend until the gazpacho reaches your preferred smoothness: the more you blend the smoother it gets. Remember you can add a dash of cold almond milk to attain thinner consistency too. Taste now for salt content and add the second half (1/2) part depending on taste. Blend again if you changed the consistency or added salt.
**3. Serve Refreshingly Chilled:** For ideal taste, store in your fridge and let the gazpacho rest for the flavors to mingle and the soup to become pleasantly chilled. After at least 15 minutes of letting flavors get intimate; pour into glass containers/bowls. Sprinkle any of the optional toppings of your choice. Feel free to get creative when using leftovers too (see variations and serving tips section).
## Smoky Quesadilla ##
### Ingredients: ###
- 4 corn tortillas
- 1 cup (heaped) grated part-skim mozzarella or cheddar cheese
- 1 small onion, red or white thinly sliced into rings and strips
- 3 medium button mushrooms or oyster mushrooms cleaned and thinly sliced
- 3 large roma tomatoes or 1 big tomato thickly sliced in rings
- 0.25 tsp Smoked paprika powder (adjust quantity of preferred amount of smokiness flavor)
- Freshly cracked black pepper
- Salt
- Olive oil for drizzling or brushing as needed
### Directions: ###
**Step 1: Prep It Up!**
Chop and slice all veggies as per measurements mentioned. Grate the part-skim mozzarella or cheddar cheese – or a mix of both. Get tortillas on a plate or chopping board. Keep all prepared ingredients within arm’s reach on the kitchen counter, to create those quesadillas without hassle and avoid overcooking/burning on the stove – especially when multi-tasking!
**Step 2: Cook Those Veggies!**
Get out one large non-stick or well-seasoned iron pan:
On low-medium flame saute chopped sliced white or red onion in olive oil (1 – 2 tsp)
Once onions start sweating and the pan has good onion-y aroma going, throw in button mushroom slices with smoked paprika powder, salt, a bit of freshly cracked black pepper. Mix for another couple of minutes (adjust heat levels according to the material of your cookware and cook-top type and power. Cast iron pans might need the heat lowered to avoid burning as these materials retain heat well). Now let all that smokiness and flavor get infused further for another minute then add thickly sliced ripe roma tomatoes on sauteed onions and mushrooms. Let the heat go further down until your stove flame is now at almost minimum so it’s time to throw cover that non-stick pan and let those lovely Roma tomato slices soften without scorching the other items you have on the pan already. Leave covered for two and a half minutes at max then gently stir contents so those tomato slices don’t get mush and all flavors mix, let stay on covered at low and just above low-medium flame for another two minutes – you should smell all those aromatics combining beautifully at this point! Veggies now all done – turn off stove heat completely as we will use residual heat on the now cooked veggies for assembling quesadillas in step 3.
**Step 3: Quesadilla Making Magic!**
Place a couple of corn tortillas inside a single microwave for heating them (about 8 to max 12 seconds at a time. If you let one tortilla cook by itself it might stiffen