Gabby’s Eats: Simple Summer Salad

One of the best things my daughter and I did this Summer was to plant a small garden on our patio.  We bought an awesome Gronomics elevated raised bed planter online, got some good organic soil and seedling plants at Home Depot and it was all done in a few hours!

A little water each day and the garden took care of itself, thriving in no time.  It became a habit of mine to water it in the early morning before leaving for work at dawn, therefore I never really got a detailed look at it’s the progress  since I was in a hurry (and it was barely light out). So when Gabby and I went out this afternoon in the bright sun to water it and get a good look we were shocked to find 4 whole cucumbers had grown and were ready to  pick!  Gabby was super excited and announced she wanted to make up a salad recipe using them ASAP.  We grabbed a handful of fresh basil from the garden as well and got to work in the kitchen.  

A non- lettuce chopped style salad was Gabby’s plan so we washed and cut up tomatoes and carrots in addition to the cucumbers and complimented them with some diced basil, olives and a basic oil and vinegar dressing. 

I was delighted to see that Gabs could not stop snacking on the veggies as she prepared them and had two servings of the salad as well!  It’s a easy and healthy way to have a serving of fresh veggies. As we are nearing the end of Summer on this holiday weekend, it is a perfect time to throw together a simple, fresh and tasty salad like this one as a nice side to your accompany all your BBQ main dishes.

Gab's Shot:

Ingredients:

2 cups chopped cucumber  

2 cups halved grape tomatoes

1 cup chopped carrots

2 tablespoons diced fresh basil

¼ cup seasoned rice vinegar

2 tablespoons finely chopped olives (we used green and kalamata)

1 tablespoon olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Add the chopped veggies and olives to a medium bowl.  In a small bowl, whisk together the olive oil and vinegar and pour it over the salad.  Mix well to evenly coat.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste and eat!  Chill if not serving immediately.

Makes 5 cups, 4 servings

Serving size: a little over 1 cup Calories 90 Protein 1 g Carb 10 g Fiber 2 g Sugars 6 g Fat 4 g Saturated fat 0 g Sodium 330 mg