Cucumber and Tomato Summer Salad

Hi Everyone,

One thing I love about this time of year is the fresh produce!   Even the produce at the grocery store tastes more fresh!  If you follow me on Instagram, On Sunday I posted a picture of my grocery cart from Trader Joe’s and as you can see, I am so into fresh fruits and vegetables right now.  I think it maybe heat thing?   I may have over done it because when I was shopping, I totally forgot that my CSA is also coming this week.  Oh well, you can never have too much produce, after all I can freeze it.   One thing  I do miss this year is my garden.  I never got around to planting it.  I started prepping it for planting, but I need a new sprinkler system, and I didn’t get a chance to install one.    Well at least I have Trader Joe’s and the Farmer’s Market to keep me going this year!  But next year, I must have a garden!!

Today I have for you my Cucumber and Tomato Summer Salad.  I love dishes like this because it is light, refreshing and so full of wonderful flavor.  I could seriously eat salads like this everyday!  Cucumbers and Tomatoes are one of my favorite summertime combinations.  For the tomatoes I used Trader Joe’s mini heirloom ones, but any kind you like will do.  I like the heirloom tomatoes because they taste wonderful and remind me of something from maybe my heritage?  Plus they have so many unique shapes, sizes and colors.  I have even seen purple and brown ones!!!

Now onto onions!   Honestly, I’m not big on raw onions, but they work well in this salad.  I used the red onions, since they tend to be a little sweeter and normally they don’t make my eyes water, but this one did.  Darn that onion!  I cut them thin and tossed them over my cucumbers and tomatoes.  I sprinkled a little bit of salt and pepper and the salad got all juicy with flavor.  Love how salt does that to vegetables.  I then topped the salad with some fresh basil that I am growing on my windowsill in my kitchen.  I guess that is considered my garden this year?

For a little bit more flavor I made a simple balsamic dressing that consisted of STAR Fine Foods Extra Virgin Olive Oil and their Red Wine Vinegar.  Add a pinch of dried oregano and parsley, give a mix and drizzle over the salad.  It was perfect!!!  Oh, I almost forgot I also threw in a few Kalamata Olives and a pinch of feta cheese.  I put in the recipe, 1 oz feta cheese, but I only sprinkled a little bit on my salad.  I just wasn’t in the cheese mood.  I think I over did the cheese thing this past weekend.

Cucumber and Tomato Summer Salad

Nutrition Information

• Serves: 2 servings

• Serving size: Half of salad

Prep time:  10 mins

Total time:  10 mins

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A light, refreshing Mediterranean salad made with cucumbers tomatoes and topped with a simple balsamic dressing.

Ingredients

• 1½ cups (175 gram) tomatoes, sliced (I used Heriloom Tomatoes)
• 1 large (286 grams) cucumber, peeled, sliced
• ¼ cup red onion, sliced in strips
• 1 dash salt
• 1 dash pepper
• 5 basil leaves, sliced thin
• 5 kalmata olives
• ½ tbsp. Star extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tbsp. Star red wine vinegar
• ¼ tsp. parsley
• ⅛ tsp. oregano
• 1 oz feta cheese, fat free

Instructions

1. On a plate, add cucumbers, tomatoes and onions; add salt and pepper. Top with basil leaves and olives.
2. In a bowl, add olive oil, vinegar, parsley and oregano; mix well. Drizzle dressing over salad and top the salad with feta cheese.

Notes

Calories: 111, Fat: 6.2, Sodium: 154, Potassium: 417, Carbs: 9, Fiber: 2.3, Sugar: 2, Protein: 5.3

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This salad would be perfect to serve at your next BBQ.  You can make everything ahead of time, and just put it together when you need it!  I also wanted to point out that it’s pretty good the next day too!  Since it was a little to healthy for my Husband and he only had a small serving,  I had leftovers and had it for lunch.  It was perfect!  I think I’ll make this again and have it for lunch again this week!

Well my friends, my brain is fried today and I probably didn’t make much sense in this post, I think the heat is getting to me.  Do you ever get where you just can’t think anymore?  That’s me right now, so I am good to say ta ta for now!  Have a great day!

Toodles,

Jennifer

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Author: Kristen
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