Sunday soup (and salad)

I just completed a week's worth of cooking and am now relaxing with an omelet scramble with diced ham, a few shakes of Cholula hot sauce and pepper Jack cheese, topped with the salsa I just made. Eggs, hot sauce and salsa...mmmm.

As to my culinary exploits: I realized that tomato season is drawing to a close and I have not yet made Classic Gazpacho. I follow this recipe loosely: I use more fresh tomatoes and less juice, substitute lime juice for vinegar, throw in a minced hot pepper instead of the roasted red bell pepper, etc. This time I added half an avocado left from the salsa. I puree the soup very smooth, since I will garnish with the crunchy salsa (tomato, hot pepper, cucumber, onion, cilantro, avocado, lime juice, a pinch of cumin, S&P, tossed with a little olive oil).

Speaking of cold soup, I made Carrot Soup with Cumin and Lime from my favorite soup cookbook of all time: Sunday Soup by Betty Rosbottom, published by the ever-fabulous Chronicle Books. (I think I can use the photo if I give Betty and Chronicle credit, which they totally deserve.) Anyone who wants to branch out from basic vegetable soup should have this book.

Finally, I assembled a pasta salad with cannellini, roughly chopped baby arugula, diced onion and red bell pepper, chunky-chopped cucumber, and crumbled feta in a lemon vinaigrette with Penzey's Greek seasoning. I will serve it on a bed of more arugula, my new favorite green.

Whew. This concludes the cooking portion of our program. I am set for the week, food-wise. Now I need to find something to knit...