Caregiver Recipes: Refreshing and Hydrating Watermelon Gazpacho

Caregiver in Shelter Island NY

Hydration is an important part of maintaining your health and wellbeing during your caregiver journey throughout the year. In the summer, however, giving your body the hydration it needs becomes even more important. The heat and humidity draw moisture from your body, making it more difficult to function and requiring that you add more hydration into your diet to keep up with what your body uses. While guzzling water throughout the day is a fantastic way to replenish your body, keep you cool, boost your metabolism, and help you manage hunger, you can also increase your hydration by integrating high water content foods into your diet.

Gazpacho is a cold soup popular during the hot months because it is easy to prepare, requires no cooking, and offers a filling, satisfying complement to lunch or dinner that does not weigh you down. While traditional gazpacho is made with tomatoes, cucumbers, and other vegetables, using watermelon as the base for your soup is a sweet, unique twist that offers a different assortment of nutrients and a cold, refreshing boost of hydration.

This is a wonderful recipe for you to serve for a sophisticated lunch gathering with the ladies, as a first course of an al fresco dinner, or to put together and store in the refrigerator for your elderly parents and their home care provider to enjoy on a hot afternoon.

What You’ll Need

• 1 large tomato

• 1/2 serrano chili, if you like spicy foods

• 2 cups cubed fresh watermelon

• 1 teaspoon red wine vinegar

• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

• 2 tablespoons minced red onion

• 1/2 cucumber

• 2 tablespoons minced fresh dill

• Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

• 1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese

• Sharp knife

• Blender

• Bowls

What to Do

• Put the bowls in the freezer to chill them. This will ensure the soup stays cold during serving and eating

• Chop the tomato, removing the core

• Put the tomato, serrano chili pepper, and half of the fresh watermelon cubes into the blender

• Puree until smooth

• Add in the red wine vinegar and extra virgin olive oil

• Pulse to combine

• Seed the cucumber and mince

• Add the cucumber, the minced red onion, and the dill to the watermelon mixture and pulse to combine thoroughly

• Add the salt and pepper to taste, and pulse to combine

• Remove the bowls from the freezer and pour the gazpacho into the bowls

• Distribute the rest of the watermelon chunks on top of each of the bowls

• Sprinkle the top of the soup with the crumbled feta cheese

If your parents do not like spicy food, or you want to tone down the spice from the serrano, replace this chili with a less potent option such as a jalapeno without the seeds or membranes. If desired, you can leave the chili out completely for a sweet and delicious soup without the heat. To store the soup for enjoying later, only chop up one cup of watermelon chunks, store the soup in a tightly closed glass jar and wait to top with cheese and watermelon until serving.

If you or an aging loved one are considering hiring professional caregivers in Shelter Island, NY, call the caring staff at Artful Home Care today at 631-685-5001.