August 5, 2024
No Lettuce? No Problem!
by Linda Dansbury

As I have said many times in my posts, I enjoy so many of the summer veggies made into salads. The more veggies in the salad, the better. Here are a few things we have enjoyed recently with our veggies:

Cucumbers, garlic - prepared a Chinese style marinated cucumber salad. It was refreshing and delicious! Sliced cucumber in half lengthwise, then into half moons. Placed in a bowl and salted the cucs and allowed them to sit for about 45 minutes. Meanwhile, made a dressing of rice vinegar, a bit of grated garlic, a little honey, toasted sesame oil and a bit of garlic chili oil, which is optional. The one I use is a Thai brand and it isn't very spicy. Drain any liquid from cucumbers and dry them a bit, then toss with dressing and enjoy - they were also good leftover.

Tomato, peppers, garlic, scallion, basil - my absolute favorite tomato salad is the one I grew up eating - and friends I made it for over the weekend loved it as well. The tricks here are the tomatoes need to be nice and ripe and you peel them - trust me it is worth the effort - and ripe tomatoes peel easily. Quarter the tomatoes, peel each quarter and either leave that size or cut each into bite sized pieces. Place in bowl. Chop sweet pepper into bite sized pieces and slice scallion and add both to bowl. Add just a bit of grated garlic. Dress with salt and pepper to taste, oregano, good quality olive oil and red wine vinegar. Toss and enjoy - it's a good idea to have some crusty bread to sop up the dressing left in the bottom of the bowl because it is so delicious!

Zucchini, onion - made a new recipe I am adding to the site - Zucchini Pie. I served it as a side dish instead of potatoes or rice. It is so delicious and would be equally delicious as a breakfast entree or lunch with a nice side salad. It incorporates all purpose and whole wheat flours, eggs and cheese - it calls for cheddar cheese but I used Gruyere instead. Definitely a part of my zucchini rotation now!

Eggplant, peppers, scallions, zucchini and potatoes (par boiled first), herbs - grilled everything and then chopped and tossed together with salt, pepper, lots of herbs and olive oil. Summer's finest.