I based my recipe on the one from this site and altered it slightly.

Tools you will need: 

A blender (or food processor), cutting board, sharp knife, measuring cup, and perhaps a juicer for the citrus. 

Ingredients: 

3 cups tomato juice, 1 green bell pepper, 1 red bell pepper, 1/2 small purple onion, 1 small cucumber, 1 yellow tomato, 1 lemon or lime, 1 large clove garlic, 1 tsp. vinegar, 1 tbsp. olive oil, freshly ground black pepper and sea salt (to taste).  *Optional: 1 jalapeno (including seeds) if you want your soup to be spicy!

Suggestion:  I recommend purchasing low-sodium tomato juice, as the regular kind generally contains a very high amount of salt.  This could overpower the flavor of the fresh vegetables.  Also, if you are unable to find a yellow tomato it’s not a big deal.  A red one will be fine.  It is a good idea to prepare the soup the day before you would like to serve it, so it can chill in the refrigerator overnight.

Directions: 

Cut the bell peppers in half and remove the stems, ribs, and seeds.  Chop into approx. 1″ pieces.  Peel the cucumber and cut it in half lengthwise, then remove all the seeds.  Chop it up just as you did with the peppers.  Cut the tomato in half and remove seeds, then cut it into chunks as well.  Remove the skin from the onion and garlic, chop these too.  Place all chopped vegetables into the blender.

Add the tomato juice, salt, pepper, vinegar, olive oil, and the juice of 1 lemon or lime.  Blend all ingredients until they are nicely pureed.

Optional garnishes:  cilantro, croutons, sour cream, thinly sliced avocado, hot sauce

Back home in the Baltimore metro area, I’m plagued with the never-ending task of finding a decent fast food type burrito place.  I’ll name all the joints I can think of for now – if I’m missing something important please comment and let me know!

▪ Neato Burrito – This chain is in Pennsylvania, so it doesn’t really count as being in the Baltimore metro area… but I don’t care.  I ate there once with some friends maybe a year or so ago.  It was an assembly-line style place, with a lot of options – many, many more than Subway, Chipotle, etc.  For instance, they have seven types of tortillas.  The burrito was very large, and relatively cheap, but I was left yearning for the burning.  It could have been much spicier and flavorful.  Perhaps I’m biased due to the fact that I have an Italian mother who put garlic in my baby food, and my dad shakes those dried hot pepper flakes on almost everything he eats, but bland usually equals boring in my book.  The ingredients were fresh-tasting, though.  I would definitely eat there again, but maybe I’d bring along a bottle of Cholula in my bag.

(Note added 8/17: I seem to have neglected the hot sauce options at Neato B., my apologies and thanks to d0gc0w for the correction.  Please see my comments section for further clarification.  I guess I could’ve edited the post, but it’s easier to add a footnote and just admit fault, eh?)

▪ Chipotle – First of all, I need to put in a disclaimer.  Although they proudly proclaim that they use ethically raised meats (no factory farms), no canned or frozen ingredients, and blah blah blah eco-this and that, they’re owned by the McDonalds corporation.  *Sigh*  The friend who first introduced me to Chipotle is a vegetarian political activist and he said something like “Just only eat there once in a while since they’re owned by McD.”  Although I do feel guilty giving any of my money to such a horrible corporation, I am guilty of eating there occasionally.  End rant, on with the review… The burritos are VERY large – so large that an old co-worker of mine called them “fetus wraps” because they are the size of an unborn child.  I once tried a chicken burrito and was slightly disappointed because the chicken was quite dry (although flavorful).  I generally stick to a black bean vegetarian burrito.  It is not only cheaper but it comes with free guacamole instead of having to pay extra for it.  The guac is good, and contains red onion, but could use some garlic in my opinion.  The “hot” salsa options are actually hot, which is nice.  The beans could use a little more zest, and they usually skimp on the lettuce – more would be good for a nice crunchy texture.  Another annoyance I’ve found is that sometimes they don’t “drain” the scoop of salsa before putting it on your burrito, causing your burrito to be excessively leaky with salsa juice.  If it weren’t for the McD association, I’d surely eat here often.

▪ Baja Fresh – The first time I ate there was about 4 years ago.  I got a vegetarian burrito which was stuffed full of great veggies – squash, onions, lettuce, tomato, etc.  Black beans, cheese, jalapenos, and salsa tied it all together.  A great fast food dining experience.  I didn’t go back for a long time, and after my recent experience, I was seriously disappointed!  I got another vegetarian burrito with refried beans… it was nearly an iceberg lettuce burrito with a little bit of beans and cheese.  The tortilla was kind of soggy, and I was picking off my friends’ plates after I was done.  Their salsa bar is relatively decent, with 3-4 different kinds to choose from – but I’ll probably never eat here again due to my dissatisfaction.  Hmph.

▪ Frisco Burrito – there are only two locations in my area (that I know of) but this place gets my 1st place prize so far.  Their burritos come in regular or “jumbo” size, and they live up to that name!  They have ingredients never found at other places, such as tofu and fresh spinach.  Yum!!!  I’m sold on that alone.  Due to the fact that this place is in a busy area, and has metered parking, I don’t go there as often as I should.  The only suggestion I have is that their rice could be a little more flavorful.  Affordable, filling, and fresh.

▪ Qdoba – I’ve never eaten here, actually.  I plan to try it soon and will post an update when I do.

▪ Taco Bell – Disgusting.  Revolting, even.  I heard most of their ingredients are reconstituted from a dehydrated state, and they use grade D meat.  Actually, their meat is jokingly called “meef” because it’s sorta meat, sorta beef.  Sick!  Their guacamole is almost less appealing than sinus-infection mucous.  However, I still go there maybe once every few months or so, when I feel like giving my digestive tract a run for its money.  The only two items I purchase are the bean burrito especiale, and the cheesy fiesta potatoes.  The total for those two items comes to $2.04 – you can’t beat that in a pinch.  Also a staple for those who get an attack of the late-night munchies, since they’re open so late.

“I’ll have a veggie burger with NO BREAD, and a large chili.”

I do not understand!  Bunless veggie burger… and a large chili?  Doesn’t the chili cancel out the vegetarian part of your meal?  Clearly, you’re not a vegetarian, so why didn’t you order a regular hamburger with no bread?  If you’re trying to go low-fat, the veggie burger works, but the chili does not!  I really, really don’t get it.  This shouldn’t be plaguing me as much as it is, but I can’t stop thinking about how ridiculous her order was.

In case anybody wants to know, my lunch was a veggie burger WITH bread.  Toppings included lettuce, tomato, sprouts, and honey mustard.  Yum!  I also wanted to get some mixed raw veggies with dip, but my cash resources did not allow this.

I’m not really shocked by this whatsoever.  This is just as surpising to me as a headline that reads “Attention fast food lovers: McDonalds’ fare can make you fat!”  Gee, fatty processed foods aren’t good for you?  Are you serious?  So, my daily breakfast of three 7-11 hot dogs is turning me into a mutant freak?  Oh no!  Wait, can I be in the next X-Men comic?  No?  Then how about a career with a circus sideshow?

The MSNBC article states that hot dogs have also been linked to colon cancer.  My question is the following: how in the hell did they conclude that hot dogs are linked to colon cancer?  Isn’t it just a crappy diet in general which puts you at risk?  Let’s consider Person A, who eats nothing but fast food and pre-packaged crap all the time.  He was raised eating that way and his parents never served him healthy, home-cooked meals when he was growing up.  We also have Person B, whose parents raised him on wholesome meals including a moderate portion of all the food groups, and he has been a vegetarian for the past thirteen years, but he is a cheater and eats hot dogs sometimes because he loves them and can’t give them up.  Which one of these people is more likely to get colon cancer?  Hmmmm…

Personally, I find grilled, slightly blackened hot dogs to be quite a tasty treat at the occasional summertime cookout.  Am I going to stop eating them because MSNBC says they cause genetic mutations?  Not a chance!  I eat hot dogs maybe two or three times a year.  I’m not scared of genetic mutation.  I’m trying to imagine how many hot dogs a person would have to eat–and/or how frequently they’d need to eat them–to prove that hot dogs were the highest colon-cancer-causing factor in their life.  I don’t know if I can count that high.