Grilled Vegetable Gazpacho

Ingredients:

• 3 ripe beefsteak tomatoes, cored and cut in half crosswise (about 3 pounds)
• 1 onion, sliced crosswise into ¼-inch-thick slices
• ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil, divided
• 1 (1-ounce) piece French bread baguette, cut into 2 slices
• Cooking spray
• 1 red bell pepper
• 1 jalapeño pepper
• ½ cup water
• 2 ½ tablespoons fresh lemon juice, divided
• ¾ teaspoon kosher salt, divided (optional)
• ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 2 cups thinly sliced, quartered English cucumber
• ¼ cup minced green onions
• 3 tablespoons fresh cilantro leaves

Instructions:

1. Preheat grill to medium-high heat.
2. Lightly coat bread with cooking spray. Place bread on grill rack, and grill 1 ½ minutes on each side or until toasted. Remove from grill. Place peppers on grill rack coated with cooking spray. Grill 8 minutes or until blistered, turning after 4 minutes. Remove peppers from grill and place in a small paper bag, folded tightly to seal. Let stand for 20 minutes. Then remove skin and seeds from peppers. (Note: wear gloves when working with jalapeño peppers and wash hands thoroughly afterwards.)
3. Brush cut sides of tomatoes and onion slices with 1 tablespoon oil. Arrange onion on grill rack and cook for 10 minutes. Turn onion over. Arrange tomatoes, cut sides down, on grill rack; cook onion and tomatoes for 10 minutes. 
4. Combine 2 tablespoons oil, bread, grilled vegetables, ½ cup water, 2 tablespoons lemon juice, ½ teaspoon salt (optional), black pepper and garlic in a blender. Process until smooth. 
5. Combine the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil, remaining 1 ½ teaspoons lemon juice, remaining ¼ teaspoon salt (optional), cucumber and remaining ingredients; toss. 
6. Ladle about ⅔ cup soup in each of 6 bowls, and top each serving with about ⅓ cup cucumber mixture.

*To lower the sodium content, omit the ¾ teaspoon of kosher salt listed. When the soup is complete, add a small pinch to taste if necessary.

Nutrition:

Servings: 6
Calories: 134
Fat: 9.4g
Protein: 2.2g
Carbohydrate: 11.5g
Fiber: 2.5g
Calcium: 29mg
Sodium:  280mg (if ¾ teaspoon kosher salt is used)

Recipe by: Cooking Light

Photo by John Autry; Styling by Leigh Ann Ross