Red hibiscus gazpacho soup

Soups and stews are great healthy additions to the kitchen recipes that are satisfying and, just as important, filling. The one-pot-meals here run the gamut from vegan and vegetarian recipes, to a meaty Paleo-friendly chicken chili, from gut-healing stocks that make the best use of leftovers to recipes that use healthy and flavorful herbal teas as the base for chilled and piping-hot soups.

Don’t be discouraged by the total cooking time required for some of these recipes. A lot of them need a long simmer, which means a slow cooker can come in handy. Load in the ingredients, turn it on, and walk away. You just need to be patient. And go ahead and make big batches, even if you’re not cooking for a big crew. You can store the leftovers in the refrigerator or freezer and enjoy them later—or improvise by adding leftover chicken, rice, pasta, or beans to give yesterday’s pot a whole new look, feel, and taste.

When we were shooting a “mocktails” story in Mexico for the magazine, one of the key ingredients we used to produce a rich, flavorful base for our drinks was fresh hibiscus flowers. These giant, gorgeous red flowers were almost the size of my head. When boiled in water, they produce a dark, floral, fruity tea that makes a really enjoyable sugar-free beverage. In addition to its stunning flavor and color, hibiscus is healthy food, loaded with antioxidants that have been proved to lower blood pressure. Here, I thought the delicious fruity notes of hibiscus could be interesting as a “broth” for gazpacho. And since it can be difficult to source fresh hibiscus flowers, dried will do just fine. You won’t be disappointed by this unusual take on the traditional chilled soup. Serve with a dollop of plain Greek yogurt if you like.

4 red hibiscus tea bags

4 cups boiling water

2 (15-ounce) cans whole tomatoes, drained and roughly chopped

1 yellow summer squash, finely diced

1 medium English cucumber, seeded and finely diced

1 red bell pepper, cored, seeded, and finely diced

1 small jalapeño, seeded and minced

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 bunch scallions, white and middle green parts only, sliced

¼ cup olive oil

Juice of 2 limes

1½ tablespoons balsamic vinegar

1½ tablespoons soy sauce

2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

1. Steep the tea bags in the boiling water for 15 minutes. Discard the bags and chill the tea in the refrigerator until cold.

2. In a blender, puree the tomatoes until smooth. Pass through a strainer.

3. In a large bowl or pitcher, combine the remaining ingredients except the yogurt. Stir in the tomato puree and hibiscus tea. Refrigerate until completely chilled, about 2 hours. Taste and season with additional salt and pepper, if

needed. Serve cold.

Tip If you have a backyard compost bin, you may think nothing of tossing your old herbal tea bags into it. But you should know that the bag itself is usually not biodegradable, nor are the metal staples and strings. To compost old tea bags, rip open the bags and dump the contents into the compost. Everything else should go into the trash.

Red hibiscus gazpacho soup