Recipe for VICKIâ€™S SPICY GAZPACHO

VICKIâ€™S SPICY GAZPACHO
Soups
Contributed by: Vicki Blankenship
Ingredients: 4 or 5 large ripe tomatoes, peeled, and chopped 2 cucumbers, peeled, seeded, and diced 1 red bell pepper, seeded and diced 1 red onion, peeled and diced 1/2 cup shredded carrot 4 cups V8 juice 4 TBS fresh lime juice 1 Serrano pepper, minced (Use a jalapeno if you can't stand the heat of the Serrano pepper) 6 cloves garlic, minced 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro 1 tsp. of Valentina brand chili powder (more spicy than traditional chili powder) Kosher salt and black pepper in a mill 1 ripe but slightly firm avocado, peeled and diced lime wedge 2 cold boiled jumbo shrimp blue corn tortilla chips
Combine all of the vegetables in a large bowl except for the avocado. Add the V8 juice, lime juice and stir very briefly. Stir in the fresh herbs and season with salt and pepper to taste. Gently stir in the diced avocado so it doesn't break up. Chill the soup for at least one hour before serving. Remove from the refrigerator, stir, let rest for 15 minutes and then serve. As an extra garnish I like to serve this with a lime wedge, 2 cold boiled jumbo shrimp and blue corn tortilla chips.
(This recipe was contributed as part of a "Cook of the Week" feature.)