Summer Gazpacho

2 large ripe tomatoes, cored

1 cucumber, peeled and seeded

1 green bell pepper, seeded

2 garlic cloves, peeled

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon red-wine vinegar

                                                                                                                                                             How to make it:
Chop the vegetables roughly, then blend all the ingredients in a food processor to a rough puree. Season with salt and pepper, chill, and eat.
In a new Spanish study, people who ate about 1 cup of gazpacho a week were 27 percent less likely to have hypertension than people who went without the soup.


The reason? Tomatoes, the main ingredient in this summer classic, contain carotenoids, vitamin C, and polyphenols—antioxidants that can raise levels of nitric oxide, a molecule that helps blood vessels dilate.
The olive oil and other vegetables in gazpacho have similarly beneficial effects, the study found.
Source
Photo by Lisa Shin