Cucumber Tomato Salad

Cucumber Tomato Salad

My good friends Rhonda and Kelley play mean games of tennis. The three of us, along with five other friends meet each Wednesday morning at our local park to smack the tennis ball around for a couple of hours.  It’s been a fun summer activity getting reacquainted with old tennis buddies.  I’ve been playing in the Boise area for over thirty years now and tennis connects us no matter how long it’s been since we’ve played together;  we just pick up where we left off.

Rhonda and Kelley each grow lovely gardens and brought excess cucumbers and tomatoes to tennis this week, so I grabbed a few and made this delicious, refreshing salad.  Is there anything more wonderful than fresh cukes or tomatoes straight from the garden?  Eating local, eating fresh, eating whole foods provide valuable nutrients not found in a vitamin or mineral supplements.  I’m talking about the multitude of phytochemicals and antioxidants needed for healthy bodies and disease prevention.

Take tomatoes for instance.  They are loaded with lycopene, an anti-oxidant well known for it’s role in heart health as it helps to lower LDL (the lousy part) cholesterol.  Recently lycopene has been associated with bone health, especially in post menopausal women (that’s me).  Without lycopene women are more at risk for osteoporosis.  I’m taking note!  And the good news is that tomatoes don’t have to be red to be rich in lycopene.  All the lovely orange and yellow varieties are just as lycopene-rich as the red ones.

This salad is so simple it hardly needs a recipe, so feel free to tweak this one however you see fit.  I peeled and seeded the cucumbers and combined with sliced tomatoes and sliced red onion.  Then I added some crumbled feta cheese and topped with another wonderful Litehouse OPA Greek Yogurt dressing.  This one is the Feta Dill.  Along with some sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, this salad is one for the memory books.  You might consider adding kalamata olives and switch to olive oil/oregano/lemon juice instead of the bottled salad dressing for an authentic Greek salad.  It’s easy to make, goes with so many dishes like chicken or steak.  Take it to your next BBQ or potluck party or tailgating event.  Everyone will be wishing they’d grown fresh cucumbers and tomatoes themselves or have good friends like Rhonda and Kelley who share their bounties.  Thanks gals!

One Year Ago:  Coconut Zucchini Bread with Lemon Glaze