It takes time to chop the vegetables, but the results are worth the cost in minutes and effort. While you can use a blender for this chopping, you lose some of the desired texture.

Try this soup the next time you want something special to serve on a hot, humid day.

1 cup finely chopped peeled tomatoes

1/2 cup finely chopped green pepper

1/2 cup finely chopped celery

1/2 cup finely chopped peeled cucumber

1/4 cup finely chopped onion

2 tsp finely chopped or snipped fresh parsley

2 tsp chopped or snipped chives

1 small clove garlic, minced

2-1/2 tblsp wine vinegar

2 tblsp olive oil

1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp ground pepper

1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce

2 cup tomato juice (see below)

Make in the morning to serve as an evening meal on particularly sultry days.

Combine all ingredients in a glass bowl and stir to mix. Cover and chill thoroughly several hours. Serve in chilled cups. Makes 6 servings.

When I do this recipe, I take fresh chopped tomatoes and push them through a strainer to remove seeds and skin, enough to get 2 cups of tomato juice. You can use canned tomato juice or V-8, but the "fresh squeezed" tomato juice to be a great addition to all the other fresh ingredients.

I also use balsamic vinegar in place of wine vinegar to increase the depth and complexity of flavor.

I usually double or triple this recipe and have a big bowl of it chilling in the fridge and use it all week, especially for kunch. It gets way better as the flavors blend over several days.

This is a GREAT soup!